Finally, Amarinder, Sidhu break the ice

CHANDIGARH: A day after the Congress win in three states of the Hindi heartland, Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who was among the party’s star campaigners, called on CM Capt Amarinder Singh at his official residence here this evening, apparently to break the ice between them.

Navjot Sidhu with a gift for CM, a stuffed black partridge.

Rajmeet Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, December 12

A day after the Congress win in three states of the Hindi heartland, Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who was among the party’s star campaigners, called on CM Capt Amarinder Singh at his official residence here this evening, apparently to break the ice between them.

The much-anticipated meeting lasted 30 minutes during which the leaders reportedly ironed out their “differences” on the Kartarpur corridor issue. With Sidhu’s popularity graph rising not only in Punjab but at the national level too, as evident from the crowd response during campaigning, the party leadership is learnt to have advised him to approach the CM so as not to give a handle to the Opposition in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The two leaders are expected to put up a unity show during the three-day Vidhan Sabha session that begins tomorrow. “The importance of a veteran leader such as Capt Amarinder Singh, who is the face of the Congress in Punjab, and that of Sidhu, who is immensely popular with the youth and a vote catcher, cannot be underestimated," underlined an AICC member.

During the meeting, Sidhu is learnt to have told Captain what he had "actually" said about him when quizzed by the media on his Pakistan visit. The CM, sources said, told Sidhu he was already aware of it.

The CM instructed the DGP to increase Sidhu's security in the wake of the threat to his life by a right-wing group. “The meeting was very cordial. He is like a father to me. A father can scold and pardon his son any time”, said Sidhu, refusing to give any details. Asked about him assuming a bigger role at the national level, a buoyant Sidhu replied: “I am basking in the glory of my role in the Kartarpur corridor and in campaigning. I have told Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi that I am at their disposal till the 2019 polls." Sidhu reportedly gifted a stuffed black partridge to the CM. The latter is learnt to have told him that he would ask the Wildlife Department if he was allowed to keep it.