Amarinder, Sidhu in spat again as crisis in Punjab Congress deepens over desecration row

In interview to a Punjab TV channel, CM Amarinder accuses Sidhu of indiscipline & looking to leave Congress while Sidhu retorts that he was only fighting for justice on desecration issue.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu had their last 'reconciliation meeting' in March | Photo: ANI

Chandigarh: The crisis within the Punjab Congress over the desecration row deepened Tuesday, with Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and his one-time cabinet colleague, Amritsar MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu, once again taking on each other over the issue.  

In an interview to a Punjab TV channel, Amarinder accused Sidhu of indiscipline, saying that he was constantly attacking “his chief minister” and it was “clear that he wanted to leave the party”.  

Amarinder also said that it seemed that no political party wanted Sidhu, adding that he didn’t mind contesting against the cricketer-turned-politician at Patiala, the chief minister’s constituency.  

“He (Sidhu) will meet the same fate as General J.J. Singh,” Amarinder said in the interview. General J.J. Singh, who was then with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), had contested and lost to Amarinder at Patiala in the 2017 assembly elections. 

Amarinder asked Sidhu to clearly spell out whether he is a member of Congress party or not? “If yes, then his continuing rant against his chief minister and the government amounts to gross indiscipline,” Amarinder said, adding that he will not tolerate any indiscipline in his party.

The Congress dissident, Amarinder said, “ought to choose the side he was on because in Congress, he is indulging in breaking the discipline of the party, BJP won’t take him back and as far as the SAD is concerned, they are also peeved with him”.

Sidhu responded almost immediately, tweeting that he was only “fighting for justice”. 

“Efforts to derail Punjab’s conscience will fail … My Soul is Punjab and Punjab’s Soul is Guru Granth Sahib Ji,” he tweeted. “Our fight is for Justice & punishing the guilty, an assembly seat is not even worth discussion in the same breath!!”

Efforts to derail Punjab’s conscience will fail … My Soul is Punjab and Punjab’s Soul is Guru Granth Sahib Ji … Our fight is for Justice & punishing the guilty, an assembly seat is not even worth discussion in the same breathe !!

— Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) April 27, 2021

He tweeted again Tuesday evening, reiterating that he was seeking justice over the desecration issue. 

आप ना इधर-उधर की बात करें बताएँ ? – की गुरु साहेब की बेअदबी का इंसाफ़ क्यों न मिला …
नेतृत्व पे सवाल है ?
मंशा पे बवाल है !!

— Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) April 27, 2021

Amarinder’s attack on Sidhu comes at a time when the chief minister is facing a virtual rebellion in the party over what is being seen as his government’s failure to defend the investigation into the cases lodged over the desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib. 

The crisis came to the fore Monday evening as well, when following a cabinet meeting, Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar and senior Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa handed over their resignations to Amarinder over the issue. The resignations were, however, rejected.

The CM held a series of meetings with ministers Tuesday to find a way out of the crisis. 

Political judgement, says Amarinder

On 9 April, Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed the investigation into the police firing at Kotkapura in 2015. The police had then clashed with Sikh protesters who had gathered to agitate against the desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib that had then rocked the state. 

The high court also absolved the then Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son, the then deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, of their alleged involvement in the case. 

Captain Amarinder had, after coming to power, launched a fresh investigation into the firing cases. The probe was being conducted by a special investigation team (SIT) of the Punjab Police led by former inspector general of police, Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh. 

The SIT had concluded that the then chief minister Parkash Singh Badal had in collaboration with his officers conspired to fire at the Sikh protesters.

The high court quashing the investigation and its findings has come as a big blow to the Congress, which was expecting to take on its political opponents ahead of the assembly elections next year by using the investigation against them.

In a statement issued by Amarinder Tuesday evening, he said that a new SIT has been approved which would take the case to its logical conclusion. He, however, said that the judgment has gone beyond its brief and it is not a judicial but a political judgement.

 

On the issue of delay in the case, Amarinder clarified that the recent high court judgment had nothing to do with the sacrilege cases and was related to the firing at Kotkapura. “The sacrilege cases are going on and already a number of arrests have been made in them,” he said.

Rebellion in the party

Ever since the court ruling, there’s been turmoil in the Congress, with Sidhu launching an attack on the chief minister, first through a video message on 13 April, followed by a press conference in Patiala. Since then he has also been tweeting his displeasure at the manner in which the investigation was conducted.

Apart from Sidhu, Rajya Sabha member Partap Singh Bajwa has also attacked Amarinder for having failed to defend the government’s position in the high court.

Following Monday’s cabinet meeting, the CM tried to cull the growing opposition. 

Sources who attended the meeting told ThePrint that Amarinder made it clear that he was upset over the indiscipline being shown by ministers through public statements against his government. 

“He said that anyone who was angry over the way things were going was welcome to leave the cabinet,” the source said. “At this, Randhawa retorted that it was only he among the cabinet ministers who had spoken out in public over the issue. He told Amarinder that people were blaming him (Randhawa) while it was the government’s failure and not his that had led to the quashing of the investigation.”

“Randhawa also attacked the state DGP Dinkar Gupta for not supervising the investigation,” the source said. “The minister said that when the SIT had five members, the investigation did not have the concurrence of the other members and Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh was made the virtual head of the SIT.”

“Randhawa also told the the chief minister that during a review meeting of the investigation between the DGP, advocate general (AG) Atul Nanda and Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh and him, Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh refused to share the details of the chargesheets with the advocate general and now he was laying the blame at the AG’s door,” the source added. “Randhawa said that the DGP did not in any way rebuke Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh for his conduct.”

Randhawa, Jakhar offer resignations

Sources said that Randhawa then got up and wrote his resignation on the back of a page torn out of the cabinet agenda and handed it over to the Chief Minister who said that it was “nonsense” and tore it up.

According to sources, at one point during the meeting, Jakhar said that they were people sitting inside the meeting who were working for the Badals. He wrote out a resignation on a piece of paper but the CM refused to take it.

ThePrint contacted both Randhawa and Jakhar via telephone but they refused to comment on Monday’s meeting.