My stand on CM still same: Sidhu to Cong panel
Punjab MLAS Navjot Singh Sidhu and Pargat Singh, who have been railing against chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh over various issues, continued to do so before the three-member committee sent by the Congress to resolve the internal fight in the party ahead of next year’s polls.
Sidhu, who has consistently accused Amarinder Singh of shielding the Badal family in the sacrilege and police firing cases and blamed him for the botched-up probe in the Kotkapura case, was with the committee headed by leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge for at least one-and-halfhours. All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in-charge of Punjab affairs Harish Rawat and former MP Jai Prakash Agarwal are the other members of the committee.
After the meeting, Sidhu said he was there at the high command’s invitation. “My stand was the same, is the same and will be the same that the democratic power of people that goes to the government in the form of taxes should go back to the people... each citizen must be made shareholder in progress. The truth may be punished but it cannot be defeated. We have to make the truth victorious and
defeat anti-punjab forces,” the cricketer-turned-politician told reporters.
Between June and October in 2015, three incidents of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib took place in Faridkot district, leading to huge resentment and protests in the state. On October 14 that year, two protesters were killed in police firing in Behbal Kalan. On the same day, police also opened fire on protesters in Kotkapura. The chief minister had promised strict action against those responsible for sacrilege and police firing.
On April 9 this year, the Punjab and Haryana high court quashed the investigation carried out by the state police’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the Kotkapura police firing case. The state government has constituted a new SIT in accordance with the court order.
Though the Amritsar East MLA made a brief statement after the meeting but did not take any questions from the media. Later, Pargat Singh, who is considered close to Sidhu, is learnt to have raised questions over the chief minister’s working style, his failure to deliver on key poll promises and the public perception about Captain and the Badals being close.
During his one-on-one meeting, the Jalandhar Cantonment MLA also handed over to the committee members copies of a letter that he wrote to the CM around 18 months ago, expressing displeasure over the state government’s performance. “Though there has been no issue regarding the flow to funds for development works, there are several promises that are still to be kept,” the former India hockey captain said.