My wife will never lie: Sidhu on ticket denial charge against CM
Punjab local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday put a stamp of approval on his wife Navjot Kaur’s allegation that chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh and party’s state affairs in-charge Asha Kumari ensured that she was denied the Lok Sabha ticket from Chandigarh.
“She would never lie. My wife has that much strength and moral authority that she will never lie,” said Sidhu at a press conference when asked about his wife’s allegation.
Kaur, who wanted ticket from the Chandigarh, alleged that Amarinder had claimed that he alone was capable to lead the Congress to victory on 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state. “Amarinder and Asha Kumari think that Madam Sidhu does not deserve an MP ticket. My ticket from Amritsar was denied on grounds that I could not win because of a train accident in Amritsar on Dussehra,” she had told reporters in Amritsar.
Denying allegations, Amarinder said he had no role to play in allotment of ticket for Chandigarh as the union territory was not under his control. Party choose four-time MP and former minister Pawan Kumar Bansal from three contenders that included former minister Manish Tewari, Sidhu’s wife and Bansal. Tewari was shifted to Anandpur Sahib that is adjacent to Chandigarh and falls in Punjab.
Amarinder said he had offered Sidhu’s wife to contest from Bathinda or Amritsar to which she denied saying that on these seats, her husband had to put in efforts and she doesn’t want to tie him down in the state at the cost of party’s countrywide campaign.
Sidhu, party’s star campaigner, was absent from the state as he was busy canvassing for the party across the country. He, however, joined Priyanka Gandhi for a rally and roadshow in Bathinda on Tuesday, after the sixth phase of the polling was over. On being questioned as to how many seats his party was expected to win in Punjab, Sidhu said he can’t comment on it, and the best person to question was the CM.
NO FARM DEBT WAIVER BY AKALI-BJP GOVT
Sidhu slammed the previous Akali-BJP government for not settling farmers’ loans despite bringing in the Punjab Settlement of Agricultural Indebtedness Act in 2016.
Speaking on the Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojana launched during the Akali-BJP government, Sidhu said the then government paid a premium of ₹18.54 crore covering 4.17 lakh farmers but only 3,000 of them availed the treatment involving a cost of ₹2.49 crore.