Navjot Sidhu targeted, day after Rahul Gandhi visit

Tribune News Service

Rajmeet Singh

Chandigarh, January 28

A day after party leader Rahul Gandhi said the chief ministerial face of the party will be announced ahead of the February 20 Assembly elections, the churn has begun.

Don’t know her: Wife

My father-in-law had married twice, and Suman Toor was one of the two daughters from his first marriage. I don’t know her. I have never met or spoken to her. — Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu, PCC Chief’s Wife

Activities have gained momentum in the party on the selection of the CM face, with both Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and PCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu camps pulling out all the stops as the party takes fresh feedback from leaders and party workers in all constituencies.

Though both leaders have committed before Rahul they will abide by the decision of the party high command to name the CM face, the internal wrangling within the party seems to be getting bitter and personal. The timing of a press conference on Friday by Suman Toor, ‘sister’ of the PCC chief from the US, in which she accused Sidhu of abandoning their elderly mother after the death of their father in 1986 and her death as a “destitute” woman at the Delhi railway station in 1989, is being seen in political circles as part of efforts to contain the Amritsar East MLA, who is battling his detractors both within the party and outside the Congress, particularly the AAP, SAD and Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) led by Capt Amarinder Singh.

While Akali leader Bikram Majithia is contesting against Sidhu from the constituency, the PLC chief has already announced he won’t let Sidhu win. A senior party leader said the timing of Toor’s allegations is as suspect as that of ED raid on Channi’s nephew. “Earlier, Channi’s detractors used the ED raid on his nephew to tarnish the former’s image as he was going up on the popularity charts. Now, it is Sidhu’s turn to face the heat from detractors as the party prepares to announce the CM face in coming days. The stakes are high.”

Though Sidhu did not reply to the allegations, his wife Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu, a former MLA, in Amritsar claimed she did not know Toor.

Sunil Jakhar, chairman of the campaign committee, took to Twitter, saying: “Politics hit a new low in Punjab! It is despicable that to settle political scores even the most pious relation between a sister and brother has not been spared.” He quoted a couplet of Sahir Ludhianvi: “Ek tehzeeb hai dosti ki, ek taiyar hai dushmani ka, doston ne murawwat na seekhi, dushmanon ko adawat na aayi” (There is etiquette in friendship and standard in animosity, friends didn’t learn how to respect, foes didn’t know how to hate).

LEADERSPEAK

Have roadmap for farmers

We have a roadmap ready for farmers to make them prosperous. People want facilities similar to Delhi in Punjab. They have had enough with the Congress and SAD for 44 years, and now want change. — Bhagwant Mann, AAP

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