Punjab Congress Crisis: 5 times when Navjot Singh Sidhu openly attacked Amarinder Singh

With rumors of Navjot Singh Sidhu's appointment as Punjab Congress chief rife, the tiff between him and Captain Amarinder Singh stands far from resolved. Even as Amarinder Singh seeks a public apology from the former Minister, the latter's series of meetings with the high command in Delhi seem to hint that the grand-old party is looking to put their weight behind Sidhu for the upcoming 2022 Punjab Assembly Elections. While an official announcement is awaited to see whether Congress can get its ranks together and resolve the infighting, here are the instances where Navjot Singh Sidhu has publically lashed out at his own government in Punjab and attacked Captain openly.

As BJP MP

While campaigning for the BJP in Punjab in 2012, Sidhu had slammed the Congress government and had taken a dig at Congress President Sonia Gandhi using the popular song 'Munni badnaam hui'. Sidhu had said, "Sonia Gandhi and the Congress are more 'badnaam' than Munni and Sheila." As Congress now looks to appoint him as the PPCC chief, Principal Advisor to President, SAD Harcharan Bains reminded the party of his shocking remarks and said that an apology was long due from the BJP-turned-Congress MLA. 

Over Bargari sacrileges

Even after his induction into Congress, Sidhu continued to attack his party which formed the government in Punjab. The Congress leader has attacked Amarinder Singh over the Bargari sacrileges on a number of occasions and has also discredited his own Ministers accusing them of engaging in corruption. 

On 'working' for Badals, drug and mafia raj 

A sharper critic than the Opposition, Sidhu has also attacked the Punjab government over their 'inaction' to tackle the issues of drugs, power crisis, and mafia raj in the border state claiming that Captain was working to protect the Badals and Majithia. The leader has claimed that the bureaucracy and police under the Congress party were working for the Badals and has lashed out at CM Amarinder Singh using unparliamentary language in several such tweets.

On action against his aide Pargat Singh

Navjot Sindh Sidhu has also been responsible for deepening the factionalism within the Punjab Congress and has tweeted several times claiming that the Congress was 'threatening' its own party colleagues. Coming to his aide Pargat Singh's defense, Congress leader Navjot Sidhu in May alleged that anyone who spoke the "truth" had become an enemy for Punjab CM Amarinder Singh

Over Kotkapura firing

Attacks against the Amarinder Government have continued over handling of several cases such as the 2015 Kotkapura firing and how the Congress had failed to fulfill its 'biggest poll promise'.

After reports of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau investigating him came over certain land deals to the fore, Navjot Singh Sidhu dared the Chief Minister to act against him.  

Although it seemed that the Congres high-command in Delhi had initially given him a 'last warning' for his sharp tweets, the top brass even considering him to head the Punjab Congress after such tweets tells a different story altogether.