Sidhu turns down ‘last chance’, attacks Govt; Channi reacts by halting replacement of AG

The Congress leadership had asked Channi to replace the AG as a final concession to Sidhu, who is still to withdraw his September 28 resignation as the chief of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC).

Accordingly, sources said, Deol was asked to resign on Sunday night — which he did on Monday afternoon. But Sidhu failed to adhere to the political ceasefire.

Speaking at a function in Punjab Bhawan, he launched an attack on the Chief Minister — even as, sources said, the government was preparing the notification for the appointment of the new AG.

“Do not give freebies to people, give them a roadmap,” he said at a programme of the Sanyukta Hindu Mahasabha organised by former Congress MLA Ashwani Sekhri — questioning the announcement of sops by the government barely two months before Assembly elections.

“Those who say Punjab’s coffers are overflowing are wrong. If that is indeed the situation, why do they not resolve the agitation by contractual employees who have climbed atop water tanks?”

Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi (Express Photo: Kamleshwar Singh, File)

Sidhu did not name Channi, but the reference was obvious — the Chief Minister had said a few days ago that Punjab had no dearth of funds, and that it was capable of rolling out people-friendly schemes.

Soon after Sidhu’s speech, Deol’s resignation was put on hold. “He will continue to be the AG for now,” a source said.

Deol himself told The Indian Express, “I have not resigned. I had gone to meet the CM as he had asked for some opinion on Cabinet decisions to be taken today. The media started to speculate that I had resigned. There is pressure being exerted by the PPCC chief but I continue to be the AG.”

A source said, “This was Sidhu’s last chance. The party had asked Channi to remove the AG. The media had already reported that the AG had put in his papers before he (Sidhu) went to Punjab Bhawan to address the function. His (Sidhu’s) wife Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu had already reacted, saying that the AG had to go because he was former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini’s lawyer. Still, Sidhu spoke out against the government at the function.”

APS Deol (L) and Navjot Singh Sidhu (R) (File Photo)

The source added that video clips of Sidhu’s speech had been circulated widely and had reached the party leadership as well. “The high command intervened, and asked Channi not to accept the AG’s resignation,” the source said.

What was also objectionable from the party’s point of view, sources said, was that Sidhu attacked Channi on the day his government had made the “historic” announcement to cut power tariffs by up to 75 per cent.

Sidhu, in fact, spoke at a stone’s throw from the civil secretariat, where the Cabinet was meeting to announce the decision, through which the Congress hopes to put itself in an advantage over other parties.

In his speech, Sidhu said: “Decisions will be taken in the court of the people. Eh na socho ke guru da insaf nahi hoe ya. Guru ta aap insaf karan wala hai, parkhda hai, parakh parakh ke sarkaaran ulta dittiyan. Ikk ulti, dooji bani, mukh mantri raaje toh runk ho gya, eh osse da partap hai.

“He will find someone from this struggle. He will choose who is gold and who is dirt. Real people, real workers are like jewels in the sand. Make them the jewels of the crown. In the end, I can only say ‘Mai hoon na’.”

Sidhu exhorted party workers to ask where the money for the sops would come from. “If the treasury is overflowing, why do they not increase the salary of teachers to Rs 50,000 per month?” he asked.

The fact was Punjab was under a debt of Rs 5 lakh crore, Sidhu said. “If people think this debt will be repaid by the government, they are mistaken. They will have to repay it themselves…”

He asked the people whether they would vote for those who would pull the state out of its crisis or for those who would merely give them a “Diwali gift”. Channi had tweeted on Sunday that he would give a Diwali gift to the people.

Late on Monday evening, Sidhu was learnt to have had a meeting with Cabinet minister Pargat Singh and an aide of Rahul Gandhi’s, Krishna Allavaru, at Pargat’s residence.

Sources close to Sidhu said he had lost patience after the AG was not changed even after a month of his resignation as PPCC chief. Efforts were now on to “handle the situation”, the sources said.