Chandigarh: Punjab Assembly elections 2022 are days away and Congress' Punjab unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu once again has made a controversial statement, saying "people at the top" want a weak chief minister.
"People at the top want a weak chief minister who can dance to their tune," Sidhu said addressing his supporters in Amritsar on Thursday evening. He did not make it clear whether he was referring to the Congress central leadership or anybody else. When contacted, his media adviser said Sidhu was actually referring to the government at the Centre.
Sidhu's remark comes ahead of the naming of Punjab Congress' CM candidate for 2022 polls. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is likely to announce the name of his party's chief ministerial candidate for the Punjab polls on February 6 in Ludhiana. For the last several weeks, both Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Sidhu have directly or indirectly made a case for themselves to be declared as the party's nominee for the top post.
Addressing his supporters and workers after returning from Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir, Sidhu targeted SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who is fighting against the Congress leader from Amritsar East. Sidhu lashed out at the SAD for its alleged misrule and "looting" the state besides "patronising criminals". They established a "goonda raj", he alleged.
Taking on AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, he asked whether he was giving Rs 1,000 per month to every woman above 18 years of age in the national capital, a promise the Delhi CM made in Punjab. "What is his stand on the SYL. He must clarify," said Sidhu the Sutlej-Yamuna link canal.
He said in the last Assembly elections people had shown AAP the mirror and even then Kejriwal's desire was to become the chief minister here. Attacking the Delhi CM, he said he wants to run through remote control from Delhi. "I have to say one thing that if a new Punjab has to be made, it is in the hands of the chief minister," said Sidhu, while adding two previous chief ministers of Punjab pushed the state backwards. "You have to choose the CM this time. If you make an honest person sit at the top, then honesty will percolate down below," said Sidhu.
Sidhu then made a mention of Singapore's former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, saying he made Singapore world's key economy in the world. Sidhu said that when he was once asked how will he remove corruption, Yew had said he will punish people at the top and added how stern measures he took while showing zero tolerance towards corruption.
Later, during his speech, while referring to the February 20 polls, he said the fight is between "dharma and adharma", and the "dharma" always prevails. "Sidhu will become X (former), Chief Ministers will become X one day, all of us will become X one day when we leave this body. But the Congress worker will never become X," he said, calling the party workers backbone of the party.
Taking on Majithia, Sidhu said he has erected big hoardings in the Amritsar East. "He thinks by putting up these boards, he has become a big don. If you have to put up boards, put them like Sidhu--in the hearts of people," he said
