Rahul didn’t ask me to go, I went on Imran Khan’s personal invite: Navjot Singh Sidhu on Pakistan visit

A day after a controversy erupted over Punjab minister and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu’s visit to Pakistan for Kartarpur corridor’s opening ceremony , the cricketer-turned-politician clarified that party chief Rahul Gandhi had not instructed him to take the trip.

“Get your facts right before you distort them, Rahul Gandhi Ji never asked me to go to Pakistan. The whole world knows I went to Pakistan on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s personal invite,” Sidhu tweeted late on Friday night.

Meanwhile, at least two Punjab ministers on Saturday demanded that Sidhu step down after his statement in Hyderabad on Friday that Congress president Rahul Gandhi was his captain, as well as that of chief minister Amarinder Singh.

The two ministers are Tript Rajinder Bajwa, who holds the rural development portfolio, and Sukhbinder Sarkaria, who holds the revenue portfolio. Both said that Sidhu had no moral right to continue in his post if he did not have faith in the leadership abilities of Amarinder, popularly referred to as ‘Captain’.

Sidhu had made the comment when asked by journalists how he attended the groundbreaking ceremony despite Amarinder’s disapproval. Amarinder had declined Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s invitation, saying Pakistan must first stop sponsoring terror in India and Punjab.

Bajwa, a known Sidhu-baiter and Amarinder loyalist, was the first to ask Sidhu to put in his papers.

“Rahul is the captain of entire Congress. But Amarinder is the undisputed leader of the Punjab Congress. The tone and body language used by Sidhu for the CM was humiliating and disgusting. He has no moral right to continue as minister,” he said.

Sarkaria said, “I personally feel what Sidhu said does not behove a minister. The tone and tenor he used for the CM was insulting.”

Jails minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa did not demand Sidhu’s resignation but said, “Showing disrespect to the CM cannot be condoned in any government or party.”

On Saturday, Sidhu distanced himself from a part of his remarks – “Which captain are you talking about? Captain Amarinder Singh ji, he is just an Army captain” – saying they were made off the cuff. “But I stand by my statement that Rahul Gandhi is both my and Amarinder’s captain,” he said.

On the demand that he step down, Sidhu said, “I am accountable to my conscience and people of Punjab... If someone distorts my statement, it is not my fault. I have also said in the press conference that Amarinder is like my father.”

A senior Congress leader familiar with the matter said efforts were on to defuse the situation.

The Amarinder camp is believed to have requested the central leadership to field Sidhu from Amritsar in the 2019 Lok Sabha election to move him out of state politics and Amarinder’s way.

With inputs from agencies