‘Was unwell’: Sidhu on Lambi absence

Sources close to Sidhu said he stayed away from the rally because he was “not invited” and “he did not go anywhere uninvited except the Golden Temple”.

Punjab’s Urban and Rural Development Minister Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa, also a close aide of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said,

“Leaders were not needed. Only workers were needed. The workers were invited. No special leader except Capt Amarinder Singh was invited. Everybody came on their own.”

Bajwa said “many other ministers including Health Minister Brahm Mohindra, Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and

Vijay Inder Singla too could not attend the rally. Why are you singling out Sidhu?”

Bajwa also said that he had put Sidhu’s name on the list of speakers, “Had he joined us we would have honourably invited him to speak from the dais.”

Sidhu was not included in the half a dozen ministers assigned by the CM to camp in Lambi and ensure a massive gathering.

His absence at the Lambi rally is the latest in a series of episodes in which the top leadership of Punjab and Sidhu have appeared at odds.

Sidhu has publicly brought pressure on Amarinder to take action against Badals over a range of allegations against them from the time of their 10 years in power; he is also seen as having “stepped on the CM’s turf “ by meeting Union Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj urging her to make efforts for opening of a visa free corridor to Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan; and has written a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh for bringing various posts of Chandigarh Administration including DSP in DANIPS cadre. Amarinder supporters see this as “overstepping his brief.”

As the party was preparing for the rally, and Sidhu was being ignored, his former MLA wife, Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu, said in a TV interview that she gave the Amarinder government “four out of 10 marks”. She also called the government “corrupt”.

Amarinder has hit back at Navjot Sidhu more subtly. Only last week he hit out at Sidhu, but without naming him, when he said “he was against cultivation of opium, as was suggested by AAP MP Dr Dharamvira Gandhi and others.” Sidhu had made the suggestion.