Akali Dal fires salvo at Navjot Sidhu over 'missing' posters: 'Greedy to become Deputy CM'

Commenting on the 'missing' posters that surfaced in Navjot Singh Sidhu's constituency, the Shiromani Akali Dal on Wednesday opined that he is not a serious person. Posted at various places in Amritsar East by an NGO, the posters offered Rs.50,000 as a reward for information on him. Moreover, it alleged that the Congress leader had forgotten his promises after the 2017 Assembly polls. Addressing the media, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal claimed that Sidhu's only desire is to be the Deputy CM of Punjab.

"What should I say about him? He is not a serious person. He is greedy to become the Deputy Chief Minister and not bothered about anything else," Lok Sabha MP Sukhbir Badal stated.

On this occasion, the ex-Punjab Deputy CM also took a dig at the internal turmoil in the Congress state unit. Promising strict action against the culprits in the sacrilege cases once SAD forms the government, he lamented that CM Amarinder Singh and Congress MLAs are busy fighting instead of tackling the COVID-19 crisis. He also accused the Punjab government of failing to check the black marketing of medicines, open new novel coronavirus centres and purchase COVID-19 vaccines. 

Sidhu goes all out against Punjab CM

After winning the Amritsar East seat on a Congress ticket in the 2017 Punjab Assembly polls by a margin of 42,809 votes, Sidhu was inducted into the Cabinet. However, a series of events led to the ex-swashbuckling batsman tendering his resignation from the Cabinet in July 2019. These include the Punjab CM openly slamming Sidhu for his 2018 visit to Pakistan where he hugged Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, losing key portfolios and denial of ticket to Navjot Kaur Sidhu in the 2019 General Election.

While the former cricketer continues to be an MLA, he has maintained a distance from party activities. Though Singh and Sidhu attempted to resolve their differences over tea on March 17, 2021, a positive outcome proved to be elusive. The relationship took a turn for the worse after the Punjab & Haryana HC quashed the SIT probe into the firing cases on April 9. Breaking his silence on Sidhu's attacks, Singh on April 27 dared him to contest from Patiala in the 2022 polls and predicted that he will lose his deposit.

On May 28, Congress president Sonia Gandhi constituted a panel comprising Rajya Sabha LoP Mallikarjun Kharge, ex-Delhi MP JP Agarwal and AICC general secretary in charge of Punjab Harish Rawat in the wake of the increasing rift between the Sidhu and the Amarinder Singh factions. Two days earlier, Sidhu met the three-member panel and apprised it of the ground reality in Punjab. Asserting that truth cannot be suppressed for long, he took another dig at Punjab CM Amarinder Singh by stressing the need to defeat every anti-Punjab force ahead of the 2022 Assembly election.