Sidhu: Can’t blame elected representatives for mishaps

Punjab local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Saturday said elected representatives cannot be held responsible for accidents in their segments, amid a growing clamour by the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) to register an FIR against him and his wife for the train accident on Dussehra that left 62 people dead.

The SAD-BJP is trying to corner the ruling Congress leaders, especially the Sidhus, over the mishap wherein a DMU train on the Jalandhar-Amritsar route ran into Dussehra revellers on October 19. The minister’s wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu was chief guest at the function.

While interacting with mediapersons on the sidelines of the ninth plenary of the Indian Journalists Union (IJU) at Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU), Sidhu said, “The SAD-BJP is playing cheap politics over the deaths of people. The country has the history of such accidents. But no elected representative was

ever booked in any of these cases.” “Former Akali minister Captain Kanwaljit Singh was killed in an accident and Simranjit Singh Mann had sought probe by a high court judge. Were they (SAD leaders) booked in the case? Also, many children died in a hospital

in Utter Pardesh’s Gorakhpur. Yogi Aditya Nath is a fivetime MP from Gorakhpur and now serving as chief minister of the state. Was he held responsible? Then why are they holding me responsible for this mishap?” he said.