Punjab CM Amarinder Singh Lashes Out At Navjot Sidhu for hugging Pak army chief
CHANDIGRAH : Punjab cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sindhu, who has courted a lot of controversies for various antics in the past, has now become a target of Punjab’s chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh.
On Sunday, Amarinder Singh lambasted Sidhu for hugging Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa during the swearing-in ceremony of Imran Khan as Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Lashing out at Navjot , Chief Minister told media during a press conference that he was not in favour of this gesture of the Congress leader when Indian soldiers are being martyred by the Pakistani army. Amrinder Singh said, “As far as hugging the Pakistan Army Chief is concerned I am not in its favor. It was wrong for him to have shown the affection towards the Pakistan Army Chief at a time when our soldiers are being martyred.”
A former captain in the Indian Army, Amarinder Singh made it clear that he deeply disapproved such a display of affection towards the chief of Pakistan army. Further elaborating on his statement against Sidhu, Chief Minister added that his own regiment lost one Major and two Jawans a few months ago. Questioning the casualties due to firing from the Pakistani side of the border, Amarinder Singh said, “Whether the man who pulled the trigger is to be blamed or the man who gives the order? Which is the chief, and the chief is General Bajwa.”
Justifying his stand over Sidhu’s decision of attending the ceremony in Pakistan Amarinder Singh preferred to distance his party from his visit. Amrinder Singh said, “As far as attending the swearing-in ceremony is concerned, he went there in his personal capacity so it has nothing to do with us. About him being seated next to the PoK President, maybe he (Sidhu) didn’t know who he was.”
Meanwhile, Mr Sidhu – the only one of the three former cricketers to accept Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s invitation on his oath ceremony – has been at the receiving end of severe criticism after he was seen sitting next to Pakistan’s top leaders, and later hugging General General Qamar Javed Bajwa.The cricketer-turned politician had countered, indicating that he was wrong footed by the General.
It was only on Saturday that the BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra launched a scathing attack on the Congress party over the issue. Patra added, “It is no less than a crime that a Congress member and cabinet minister in Punjab government went to Pakistan for the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Imran Khan and acted in a certain way.
He went on to say that Pakistan wanted peace – statements, which New Delhi contends, fly in the face of its intelligence agency ISI’s support to terrorists. The General then followed it up with the promise to open the corridor to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur. “It was a dream come true,” Mr Sidhu had told media.(With Agency Inputs ).
