Now, minister Singla lashes out at Sidhu
Thursday, 23/05/2019
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SANGRUR:Joining hands with his other cabinet colleagues, Punjab public works department (PWD) minister Vijay Inder Singla on Wednesday lashed out at local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu for criticising chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh during the Lok Sabha elections.
“Sidhu is a cabinet minister in the Capt Amarinder Singh government and he is also a star campaigner. He should have faith in the chief minister. Even if Sidhu had some differences with the chief minister, he should have pointed out these before the high command,” said Singla, who was in Bhawanigarh town in the district to attend a private function.
He said Sidhu’s public criticism of the chief minister has damaged the party’s poll prospects.
“When the party was fighting with full strength, he gave a controversial statement. I think it damaged the Congress in the elections,” he added.
Sidhu had courted controversy last week by his ‘friendlymatch’ jibe at Amarinder, suggesting a ‘secret political deal’ with the Badal family.
He had taken a swipe at Amarinder for not acting against the Badals over the 2015 sacrilege and firing incidents during the Shiromani AkaliDal-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule.
Singla has become the ninth minister to have come out in the support of Amarinder over the issue.
Five of his cabinet colleagues — Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa (rural development and panchayats), Bharat Bhushan Ashu (food and civil supplies), Shyam Sundar Arora (industries), Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi (sports and youth affairs) and Gurpreet Singh Kangar (power) — on Tuesday demanded that Sidhu quit the ministry if he doubts Captain’s leadership.
On Monday, three other cabinet ministers — Brahm Mohindra (health and family welfare), Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa (jails) and Sadhu Singh Dharamsot (forest and scheduled castes and backward classes welfare) — had demanded Sidhu’s resignation and asked the high command to take disciplinary action against him.
