'Rejected the system, though it kept offering Cabinet berths': Sidhu launches blistering attack on Amarinder

navjot sidhu — Image Source : PTI (FILE)
'Rejected the system, though it kept offering Cabinet berths': Sidhu launches blistering attack on Amarinder

Training his guns at Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, senior Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu has said that the former failed to deliver justice in the Bargari and Kotkapura police firing cases. In a tweet shared from his account, Sidhu said that he wants to give power to people and that he "rejected the system when the system didn't allow reform".

"17 Years- Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, MLA, Minister... Just one Motive, to change the system that runs Punjab & give back the power of the people to the people," he said.

"But when the system said No to every attempt for reform, I rejected the system, though it kept offering me Cabinet Berths!" Sidhu added.

Sidhu is at loggerheads with CM Amarinder and both have publicly given statements against each other in the media, with Sidhu criticising the CM for not bringing the guilty to book in the Kotkapura sacrilege incident. Sidhu had quit the Amarinder Singh cabinet in July 2019 after being divested of the local bodies portfolio and has been in the political wilderness since.

Sidhu added that he not running after any post in the party, adding that he was not a showpiece to be used to win just elections. The Congress leader said that he started his fight against the system from the "very first Cabinet meeting".

Without naming anyone, he said that the system in the state is controlled by "two powerful families" -- a clear reference to Badals and Captain. Sidhu said that he received many offers but "he rejected all". He said that while "they have made it about posts", it is about "an agenda and a roadmap how Punjab will be resurrected to its glory".

Notably, Sidhu's name is doing the rounds for deputy CM, but CM Amarinder is opposed to the move. It is also learned that Sidhu wants the post of PCC chief, but Amarinder is opposed to this idea as well. The CM, however, has no objection to Sidhu joining the Cabinet.

Both Sidhu and Singh had earlier this month appeared before the three-member AICC panel under leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge. The panel was constituted by the party's interim president Sonia Gandhi to end factionalism in the Punjab Congress ahead of Assembly elections early next year.