Sidhu skips Punjab Cabinet meeting after Pulwama remarks row

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 17

Punjab cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, it would seem, is controversy’s favourite child.

As he faces mounting criticism over his statements over the Pulwama attack, Sidhu, Punjab’s Local Bodies Minister, skipped a Cabinet meeting called to approve the state Budget that has to be tabled in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Monday.

However, seeking to clear the air that he had skipped Sunday's cabinet meeting, Sidhu said that he had prior commitments and five functions of development works which were fixed days in advance.

"Visited (Pulwama attack) martyr's family at Dinanagar (Gurdaspur) along with Aruna ji (Pb Minister). Had prior commitments, five functions of development works fixed 10 days before, with Hon'ble Ministers and MLAs including Smt. Aruna Choudhary and Shri Sham Sundar Arora," Sidhu tweeted.

Visited Martyr’s family at Dinanagar along with Aruna Ji!
Had prior commitments, five functions of development works fixed 10 days before, with Hon’ble Ministers & MLAs including Smt. Aruna Choudhary and Shri. Sham Sundar Arora. https://t.co/FA0jqX6Efj

— Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) February 17, 2019

Sidhu had earlier skipped a Cabinet meeting held right after his derisive remarks against Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. Sidhu’s Cabinet colleagues also say that the minister habitually “ducks” this way when he knows he would be pulled up for his statements.

At a press conference in November, he, apparently snidely, remarked: “Kaunsa captain? Oh, Captain Amarinder Singh ji? Mera captain Rahul Gandhi hai”.

The remarks, coming after he announced he was going to Pakistan for the Kartarpur corridor groundbreaking ceremony, was seen as further proof of the friction between the two leaders who appeared to have reconciled during the 2017 assembly elections.

Sidhu said on Friday—a day after a dastardly suicide attack in Pulwama—that nations could not be blamed for a handful of people. Sidhu said, “There are good, bad and ugly people in our lives. Every place, institution and nation has them. The ugly needs to be punished, but individuals cannot be blamed for a dastardly act.” He said: “Nations cannot be blamed just for a handful of people. These people have no country, no religion. They act as deterrents in peace process. We need to deal with them strictly”.

His statement has drawn widespread condemnation. Several people took to Twitter to demand that The Kapil Show—on which Sidhu has been a staple for several years now—should sack him for his remarks.

A suicide bomber crashed his explosive-laden vehicle into a Central Reserve Police Force bus, blowing the up in smithereens and killing at least 40 troopers on Thursday. Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan based militant organisation, released a video claiming the attack. Jaish is believed to have links with Pakistan’s spy agency Interservices Intelligence. — With PTI inputs