News Analysis India

Tag: Navjot Singh Sindhu

  • Illegal sand mining allegations against Channi right after announcement of Punjab elections is political vendetta: Sidhu

    Express News Service

    The ED raids and allegations against Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi of involvement in illegal sand mining have come after the announcement of Assembly elections and are nothing but political vendetta, Congress state president Navjot Singh Sidhu told Harpreet Bajwa in an interview. Excerpts:

    Q: What are the chances of Congress returning to power? How many seats do you give to your party?

    A: The Congress will win at least 70 seats in the 117-member Assembly in the coming elections if a clear agenda for the state is incorporated in the manifesto. There is an election on every seat and when we fight 117 elections, there are challenges on each seat.

    Q: As of now, it seems no political party will be able to get a clear mandate.

    A: Just wait for ten days. The people of the state will give a clear mandate to the party which gives a clear roadmap. They will not waste their votes on spent cartridges like Captain Amarinder Singh and others.

    Q: What are your comments on ED raids in connection with sand mining at various places, including CM Channi’s nephew’s premises?

    A: The ED took action after nearly four years of the registration of the case. Were they sleeping for four years? When the assembly elections were announced, then the raids were conducted.

    Q: CM Channi is alleged to be involved in sand mining, but there is no condemnation from your side. Are you giving a clean chit to him by questioning the timing of the ED raids?

    A: I am not giving any clean chit. Let the law take its course. If you can prove a link, then I will be the first one to criticise. But if you are indulging in political vendetta, then I am not with you. I know the ED, the CBI and other agencies have been used politically…Today it is clear that it is political vendetta.

    Q: Your opponents say you are terming ED raids as vendetta but justifying the case registered against SAD leader Bikramjit Singh Majithia under NDPS Act. The SAD is accusing you of political vendetta.

    A: It is absolutely trash. It is a 2018 case. The ED had started the investigations against Majithia… The ED and Special task Force reports were submitted in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Amarinder Singh (former CM) was protecting him.

    Q: You have been asking the party to declare a CM face. Do you think you should be named CM candidate?

    A: I am not here for any post. My only aspiration is to implement the ‘Punjab model’. If a roadmap to resurrect Punjab is there, I am there. Yes, if a post allows me to take decisions and the high command empowers me, I will do justice to that post, be it a minister, PPCC chief or anything. 

    Q: How you rate the performance of 111 days of Channi government?

    A: It is just a trailer. A film will be run.

    Q: There has been infighting in your party. It was there in 2012 and 2017 polls also. This time, the internal feud has intensified. How will you control it?

    A: Which party doesn’t have infighting? The leaders in AAP are also fighting among themselves.

    Q: Many Congress leaders have been lobbying for tickets for their family members. Your comments?

    A: Only one ticket per family for the coming assembly polls will be given. This is the rule of the party high command.

    Q: Many of your party leaders, including a few ministers, have objected to your style of functioning.

    A: With my style of functioning, I became the PPCC president and before that a Member of Parliament several times.

    Q: BJP tried to change the narrative of these elections by raring the issue of PM security lapse but at ground level it seems to have benefitted congress, your comments?

    A: What narrative it was 700 people, 70,000 empty chairs. People understand everything. The prime minister is very dear to me as he is India’s Prime Minister and when he comes here, we have to respect him. When farmers were sitting for more than year, then nobody spoke as they were termed Khalistanis and called names. But nobody was able to defame them. We are very well knit in the socio-economic fabric of Punjabiyat.

    Q: The Punjab model you have been advocating is your model or that of the party? Will it see the light of the day?

    A: I will meet Congress leader and manifesto committee chairman Partap Singh Bajwa regarding the poll manifesto and it will be released in the coming days.

    Q: How can you implement your ‘Punjab Model’ as the same leaders and faces have been given tickets by your party against whom questions were raised and allegation made?

    A: Has the Akali Dal got ‘totally clean’ leaders? ‘Rejected’ leaders of the Congress went to AAP. There are the good, the bad and the ugly in every party. I give solutions and do not talk about problems. The system that has been eating Punjab for last 25 years has to be broken and a new one has to be put in place. Once you make Sand Corporation, then no sand theft can take place as rates will be fixed. Hooch tragedies are taking place as there is excise theft of `5,000 crore. Once all these cartels are broken, these people will be finished. You have to re-invent and create a system which takes care of the state’s resources and gives the money to the exchequer.

    Q: What you have to say on agriculture diversification, as it is the need of the hour?

    A: The central government gives MSP on only two crops to our farmers — wheat and paddy. For growing one kg of paddy 5,000 litres of water is needed. Our farmers take loan to install tube wells. After 20 years, Punjab will be a barren land. My roadmap for crops is not new. Diversification is the need of the hour as we consume only 8 per cent of the paddy we grow in Punjab. The central government has reduced PDS cover from 70 crore to 40 crore people and is finishing Food Corporation of India. If voted to power, our government will give MSP on oil seeds and lentils and bring market intervention scheme for maize. We will also allow farmers to store wheat and paddy in the state warehousing corporation godowns for a few months and give him 80 per cent loan on the produce stored. One cold storage for every five villages will be opened for storing vegetables so that farmers can store their produce and sell later at good rates. Subsidy will be given to farmers on the labourers they employ.

    Q: In Punjab Model, you talk about sports. Neighbouring Haryana is doing very well in this compared to Punjab.

    A: It is very simple that political will is needed in this and not so much money. We wish to want to acquire village common lands and have baseball, volleyball and courts there, besides make akhara for wrestling. For every five villages, we envisage a stadium where there is facility for athletics and running mat for rubbers and a small astroturf. Besides, we will set up one sports academy each in Majha, Malwa and Doaba regions and give scholarship to children till university level who play well. This is called ‘catch them young’.

  • Navjot Sidhu: ‘Born Congressman’ who stumped party with shock resignation

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Nearly five years ago when he joined the Congress, ex-cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu had said he is a “born Congressman” now coming back to his roots.

    But on Tuesday, he bowled a googly at his party by resigning as its Punjab unit chief.

    The maverick-triggered political developments saw one of the party’s tallest leaders Amarinder Singh forced to quit as chief minister just over a week ago.

    Barely days after Charanjit Singh Channi took over as the Punjab CM and on a day portfolios were given to members of the new state Cabinet, 57-year-old Sidhu’s resignation came as a jolt to the party, with the Assembly elections just less than five months away.

    At the time he switched over to the Congress from the BJP before the 2017 Punjab Assembly polls, Sidhu had said he is a “born Congressman”, who came back to his roots.

    Sidhu had said he would be ready to work under anybody appointed by the high command and contest from where the party wants him to.

    It is premature to talk about the issue, Sidhu had then said when asked whether he would like to be the chief ministerial candidate of the party.

    Four-and-a-half years later, the rift between Sidhu and party leader Amarinder Singh escalated to such a level, resulting in 79-year-old Congress veteran stepping down as chief minister, who said he felt “humiliated” over the way the party handled the protracted crisis.

    Amarinder Singh, who had called Sidhu “dangerous” and “anti-national”, while reacting over his resignation, again took a dig at him and said, “I told you so, he is not a stable man, not fit for the border state of Punjab.”

    Donning many hats from cricketer, commentator, TV show host, Sidhu, who also remained a four-time MP, has always maintained that for him Punjab comes first.

    Sidhu’s father Bhagwant Singh was the district president of the Congress in Patiala and it was his wish to see him play cricket at the international level.

    Sidhu made his debut in first class cricket in 1981-82 and later went on to earn the sobriquet of “sixer Sidhu” for his powerful stroke play.

    In 2004, Sidhu began his political innings contesting the Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket from Amritsar, where he shifted his base from Patiala, and in his first election defeated Congress heavyweight R L Bhatia.

    When he was in the BJP, Sidhu had sour relations with the Badal family despite the SAD then being an ally of the BJP.

    Later his ties with BJP also turned cold when the party fielded senior leader Arun Jaitley from Amritsar in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

    Though he was accommodated in the Rajya Sabha later, he quit the party to join the Congress.

    Sidhu’s wife Navjot Kaur, who was sitting MLA from Amritsar (East), made way for him to contest the seat in 2017.

    Just before his joining the Congress, Sidhu had floated a front “Awaaz-e-Punjab” but it was soon shelved.

    When the Congress returned to power with an overwhelming majority in 2017, it was being speculated that Sidhu would be made the deputy chief minister, but he was made a cabinet minister.

    As Sidhu and Amarinder Singh’s relations never remained cordial, the latter changed his portfolio from the local bodies to Power, but the cricketer-turned-politician resigned in protest.

    From the time he quit his Cabinet in 2019 till early 2021, Sidhu maintained a low profile.

    However, once he was back in thick of things a few months ago, he not only took on the opposition but repeatedly kept on making veiled attacks on the chief minister over host of issues.

    In July, Sidhu was appointed as the new president of the party’s Punjab unit, notwithstanding the strong opposition from Amarinder Singh.

    The appointment of Sidhu and four other leaders as working presidents of the state unit came after days of internal squabbling and public bickering that divided the state unit between two factions owing allegiance to Singh and Sidhu.

    With his elevation as the state Congress chief, the party leadership clearly signalled to put its weight behind Sidhu while ignoring Amarinder Singh’s opposition.

    The support of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had also helped in Sidhu clinching the post despite strong resistance.

    Sidhu’s ability to pull crowd and launch a vigorous campaign appeared to have worked in his favour.

    Sidhu can win an election even in Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan had once said when the Congress leader went to that country to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Khan.

    Sidhu was later criticised for hugging Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa at the high-profile event.

    Though Sidhu earned the wrath for his visit to Pakistan, the Amritsar legislator was hailed by many for his role in the opening of the Kartarpur corridor, enabling devotees especially Sikhs to offer prayers at the historic gurdwara in the neighbouring nation.

    The corridor links Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, the final resting place of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district.