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PAK PM REQUESTED ME TO INDUCT SIDHU IN CABINET: CAPTAIN

Amid electioneering in Punjab, former state Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said on Monday that he got a request from Pakistan Prime Minister for “inducting” Navjot Singh Sidhu into his Cabinet after he was removed due to “incompetence”. Amarinder Singh, who has floated the Punjab Lok Congress after resigning as Chief Minister in September last […]

Amid electioneering in Punjab, former state Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said on Monday that he got a request from Pakistan Prime Minister for “inducting” Navjot Singh Sidhu into his Cabinet after he was removed due to “incompetence”.

Amarinder Singh, who has floated the Punjab Lok Congress after resigning as Chief Minister in September last year, said the Pakistan Prime Minister in his request conveyed through a person “known to them” termed Sidhu as an “old friend” and said he could be removed if he did not work. Though Amarinder Singh did not name the Pakistan Prime Minister, his apparent reference was to Imran Khan, whose swearing-in function Sidhu had attended. Amarinder Singh had asked Sidhu, who is now Punjab Congress chief, to reconsider his decision to attend the function.

“Pakistan PM sent a request if you can take Sidhu into your Cabinet I will be grateful, he is an old friend of mine. You can remove him if he does not work,” Amarinder Singh said at a press conference here.

Amarinder Singh said he “removed Sidhu from the Cabinet because he was incompetent, incapable and totally useless”. “I think two-three weeks later I get a message from somebody we know, he knows and I know…that there is a request to take Sidhu (in Cabinet) if possible. If he does not work, remove him,” he added.

Amarinder Singh had a bitter parting of ways with Congress and had hit out at Sidhu, who had been appointed state Congress chief by the party leadership.

Sidhu, a cricketer-turned-politician, is seen to be an aspirant to the chief minister’s post and there is an apparent tussle between him and Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi.

Amarinder Singh and Sidhu had been at loggerheads earlier too and the tensions since increased after Sidhu went to Pakistan to be part of the oath-taking ceremony of Imran Khan as Prime Minister though he had been advised to reconsider his decision.

Sidhu hugging Pakistan Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa led to a huge controversy and Amarinder Singh criticised him. Sidhu was later divested of the Local Bodies Department and resigned as minister in Amarinder Singh government in June 2019.

Meanwhile, BJP national president J.P. Nadda said his party would contest 65 seats, Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress 37 seats and Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) 15 seats in the upcoming Punjab assembly polls. The three parties are fighting the elections in an alliance.

Earlier on Sunday, Amarinder Singh announced his decision to fight from his home constituency of Patiala Urban. His party released the first list of 22 candidates. BJP has also announced its first list of 34 candidates for Punjab. The state will go to the polls on 20 February. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.

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