Putting to rest discussions on whether newly elected Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu’s weekly appearance on the famous comedy show, ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’, would end with his entry into the government in Punjab, the minister today clarified that he was fully capable of handling both jobs well.
The minister, who took charge of the Local Government and Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Archives and Museums today cleared the air over rumours that he will now part his ways from the show which goes on air every Saturday and Sunday at 9pm.
Speaking to reporters after assuming office, the minister said that he can discharge his duties as a minister even while doing the show.
Sidhu said that he will fly down to Mumbai every Saturday, shoot for the show and then fly back to his home state on Sundays.
"I won six elections in the last 12 years... if the public has no objection (over his TV show) then why are you (the media) objecting to it," he asked.
"For the television show, I will leave at three in the evening and reach there by five. Then I will shoot for the show for the whole night. I will take a flight at three in the morning and will reach here at 5 AM, and go to office at 7 AM," the former BJP leader said.
Sidhu was yesterday sworn in as minister in the new Congress government headed by Captain Amarinder Singh.
On speculation about him being made the Deputy Chief Minister, Sidhu said, "Had the Captain (Amarinder) asked me to serve by being an MLA, I would have done that too. I am happy with anything and everything that Captain sahib, Rahul ji and Priyanka ji think and deem fit for me. I have come to put the state on the right track and not fufill any private interest."
Speculation was rife that Sidhu would be made Deputy Chief Minister in the present dispensation. However, he featured second on the list of nine ministers who were sworn in yesterday.
The former BJP MP said he had been offered by the BJP to contest elections from Kurukshetra, Chandigarh and West Delhi in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, but a Rajya Sabha seat did not matter to him as it forced him to stay away from his roots.
He emphasised that the new Congress government in Punjab would have to work with a positive intent for the first six months.
"The first six months, we have to work with positive intent. We have to be true in our work," he said while describing Chief Minister Amarinder Singh as a father figure to him.
"Amarinder, who is like my father, told me to show positive intent of the government in the first six months," Sidhu said, adding like in cricket, the first session of the test match set the tone of the game.
The star candidate of the Congress party had won elections from Amritsar East constituency, defeating BJP's Rajesh Kumar Honey.
