Rs 500 cr jibe: Dr Navjot Sidhu faces heat from Cong, BJP

The city’s political circles witnessed sharp turbulence on Tuesday as two major developments emerged following former MLA Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu’s recent statement. The first flashpoint arose within the Congress.

Mithu Madaan, a long-time confidant of the Sidhu family and newly appointed president of the Amritsar Urban District Congress Committee, issued a stern warning to Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu, urging her to stop levelling allegations against the party leadership. Madaan claimed he would “expose the names of people from whom she had taken money, gold and other items” if she continued her remarks.

Madaan said he had been closely associated with the family for years and knew “everything about their internal matters”, though he added that he still held respect for them. He insisted that Dr Sidhu’s allegations against the Congress leadership were false. Madaan previously came into the spotlight in 2018 when he was accused of organising the illegal Dasehra event near Jaura Fatak, where 59 people died in a train tragedy — a time when Navjot Singh Sidhu had strongly defended him.

The second development came from the BJP. Senior BJP leader and former IAS officer Dr. Jagmohan Singh Raju wrote to the Punjab Vigilance Bureau seeking a formal inquiry into Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu’s claim that “Rs 500 crore in a briefcase” was needed to become the Chief Minister of Punjab. Raju had contested the 2022 Assembly elections from Amritsar (East), the same seat Navjot Singh Sidhu won in 2012.

In his letter, Raju said Dr Sidhu’s statement amounted to a serious allegation of corruption at the highest levels of the Congress. He said that as a former MLA, former Chief Parliamentary Secretary and wife of a former PPCC president, her words held considerable significance. Any payment for access to a constitutional office like the Chief Minister’s post, he added, would constitute a grave offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act. He urged the Vigilance Bureau to carry out a “thorough, impartial and time-bound inquiry”.

Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu has already been suspended from the primary membership of the Congress following her allegation that a briefcase containing Rs 500 crore was required to become Chief Minister — a demand she said her husband could not meet. Political temperatures in Amritsar have risen sharply, with Madaan’s threats, the BJP’s call for a probe, and the Congress distancing itself from Dr Sidhu.