After burst of friendly fire, Sidhu goes silent, now targets Centre

On Saturday, Sidhu will be answering farmers questions in the farmers meeting in which they have invited leaders of political parties in Chandigarh.

AFTER ATTACKING his own government soon after taking over as Punjab Congress chief, Navjot Singh Sidhu has gone quiet. 

The Amritsar East MLA last tweeted on September 1, the day he had met AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi. 

Sources said Sidhu was asked to keep quiet. “He was asked to stay away from any controversies. Ever since, he is quiet and waiting for the party high command to take the rebellion against Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to a logical conclusion,” said a source. 

On August 30, he had taken on his own party government, demanding that it issue issue directions to PSERC to revise tariff being paid to private thermal plants. After his tweet, the CM and party general secretary in-charge Harish Rawat had stated that the government could not cancel all 122 power purchase agreements (PPAs). 

After his meeting with Priyanka, Sidhu came back to Chandigarh, attended the Vidhan Sabha session but did not speak a word. The government did not give him an opportunity to speak, but he did not say anything after coming out of the Assembly either. Before the session, he was tweeting that he would bring a resolution in the House to cancel the PPAs and also make the STF report on drugs public. He was also pushing for the state to cancel the Centre’s farm laws. Amarinder checkmated the rebels by bringing a special session, whereby no business was conducted in the House. 

Sidhu, it is learnt, is busy constituting the new organisational body and is holding meetings almost everyday. He has also been distancing himself from the media.

As Sidhu has gone quiet, the rebel ministers too have pinned themselves to their respective constituencies and did not return to Chandigarh this week. Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa are both nurturing their respective constituencies now, sources said. 

On Wednesday, Rawat, who was in Delhi, had told the media that the rift between Amarinder and Sidhu will be “beneficial” for the Congress. 

On Saturday, Sidhu will be answering farmers questions in the farmers meeting in which they have invited leaders of political parties in Chandigarh. He will be accompanied by PPCC general secretary in-charge Pargat Singh and PCC working president Kuljit Singh Nagra.

On Thursday, Sidhu in a series of tweets hit out at the Centre on various issues. He tweeted: “ Central Govt promised to double farmer income by 2022, but increased FRP on Sugarcane by 1.75% (just Rs 5) MSP on Wheat by 2% (just RS 40) Meanwhile, In last one year expenses have increased Diesel by 48% DAP by 140% Mustard Oil by 174% Sunflower Oil by 170% LPG Cylinder by 190 Rs”

In another tweet, he said, “ NDA means No Data Available about Farmers, Labour & Small Traders … Govt only knows about its rich corporate friends, whose debt it waives-off, whose planes it travels in & who make their Policies, such as the three Farm Laws, which benefit 0.1%, while looting the 70% of Indians.”

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