4 min readChandigarhOct 25, 2021 03:00 AM IST
First published on: Oct 24, 2021 at 12:06 PM IST
AMID A slugfest in Punjab Congress over Aroosa Alam, PPCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday said the state must concentrate on real issues that concern every Punjabi even as MP Manish Tewari said he never saw “such chaos and anarchy” being played out in the party’s state unit.
Both Sidhu and Tewari took to Twitter to state their points. While Sidhu hit out at his own party government, Tewari hit out at former party general secretary in-charge Harish Rawat and the Mallikarjun Kharge committee, as well as Sidhu.
The statements by both leaders have come amid the ongoing war of words between Congress leaders and former chief minister Amarinder Singh over his friendship with Pakistani journalist Aroosa Alam, just months before the state Assembly polls.
Sidhu tweeted: “Punjab must come back to its real issues that concern every punjabi and our future generations…How will we counter the financial emergency that stares upon us? I will stick to the real issues and not let them take a backseat!”
In another tweet, he said, “The choice is clear between irreparable damage and the last chance for damage control…Who will bring back state’s resources to the state’s coffers, instead of them going to private pockets? Who will lead the initiative for resurrection our great state to prosperity!…Let the mist clear, reality shine like the sun upon the roadmap for revival of Punjab, shunning those who protect the selfish vested interests and focus only on the path that will lead to Jittega Punjab, Jittegi Punjabiyat and Jittega Har Punjabi!”
Sidhu’s tweets came a few hours after Chief Minister Charanjit Channi went live on his Facebook, meeting people in his office.
Sources said Sidhu was upset over “real issues being pushed on the backburner while Channi was busy projecting himself as a common man’s CM for mere optics”. Sidhu has been asked to keep quiet on public platforms and raise matters concerning the party at party platforms, sources added.
Meanwhile, Anandpur Sahib MP Manish Tewari expressed his dismay over the ongoing developments in the Punjab Congress and asked whether the party thought the people were not disgusted by the “daily soap opera”.
Reacting to a recent interview by former state Congress in-charge Harish Rawat, he tweeted: “Respected @harishrawatcmuk ji Since you referred to me in this interview I also have great regard & respect for you going back to days when I headed @nsui & you @CongressSevadal. However in my 40 years plus in @INCIndia I have never seen such chaos & anarchy as what is playing out in @INCPunjab today. Repeated open defiance of AICC by a PCC President, colleagues squabbling publicly with each other like children. Guttural language against each other that even fish wives would not use. For the past 5 months it is @INCPunjab vs @INCPunjab.”
In another tweet, he said: “Do we think that people of Punjab are not disgusted by this daily soap opera? Irony is that those who complained loudest of transgressions & aberrations were unfortunately & continue to be worst offenders themselves. History would record that the appointment of the Committee that ostensibly heard perceived & real grievances was a serious error of judgement. Where is progress on the issues that agitated these MLA’s & other eminences — Bargari, drugs, power PPAs, illegal sand mining. Has there been any movement forward…”
Navjot Singh Sidhu. (File photo) 
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