Amarinder Singh’s sensational allegation that Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan sent him a message to reinstate Navjot Singh Sidhu as Punjab Minister

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Former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh made a sensational allegation on Monday claiming that Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan sent him a message asking for the reinstatement of Navjot Singh Sidhu as a minister in his cabinet. Singh, however, did not explain why he remained silent on an issue as serious as this for so many years.

(Pardeep Pandit/HT Photo File)

In 2019, Sidhu stunned everyone by resigning as Punjab minister, but insulted Amarinder Singh by sending his resignation to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Singh said he had “dropped” Sidhu from his cabinet and the latter has not resigned.

“I dismissed Sidhu from my office because this man was incapable. For 70 days, he could not prepare a file. Then, two to three weeks later, I received a message from Pakistan to bring Navjot Singh Sidhu back to the state cabinet. If he (Sidhu) is not working then you can take him out,” Singh said as quoted by India Today.

Singh said the message “indicated that the Prime Minister of Pakistan had asked to take Sidhu to the cabinet.”

Sidhu and Singh were constantly at odds for a long time even when they were both colleagues in the Punjab government. What led to a war of words between the two was that Sidhu accepted Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s invitation to travel to attend his swearing-in ceremony.

Sidhu and Khan played cricket for their respective countries against each other and are known to be good friends.

Singh later said in an interview that he was against Sidhu’s visit to Pakistan, but Sidhu defied his instructions.

The former chief minister, who is contesting next month’s assembly polls with the BJP, had recently called Sidhu a “totally incompetent man”.

“When the leader of Congress told me (over five years ago) to check on how Sidhu was doing, I said that this man was absolutely unfit to be a member of the Congress party. Yet they went from l before and inducted him,” he said, as quoted by the PTI news agency.

Punjab goes to the polls on February 20 and the counting of votes is scheduled for March 10.

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