India

'Post or no post': Sidhu vows to stand by Rahul and Priyanka after u-turn on Punjab Congress chief job

Sidhu set the stage for Amarinder Singh's resignation as Punjab CM on 18 September and the relatively lesser-known Dalit face Charanjit Singh Channi's takeover, just four months before the Assembly polls

FP Staff Last Updated:October 02, 2021 16:16:38 IST

Navjot Singh Sidhu made the surprise announcement on Twitter. PTI

Navjot Singh Sidhu, whose apparent turnaround on resigning as Punjab Congress chief raised many heckles in the party, on Saturday announced “post or no post, will stand by Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra”.

Backed by Rahul and Priyanka, Sidhu set the stage for Amarinder Singh’s resignation as Punjab chief minister on 18 September and the relatively lesser known Dalit face Charanjit Singh Channi’s takeover, just four months before the Assembly polls.

On Saturday, Sidhu vowed to “uphold the principles of Gandhiji and Shastriji” and said he remained committed to ensuring victory of the state.

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“Will uphold principles of Gandhiji and Shastriji. Post or no post will stand by Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi! Let all negative forces try to defeat me, but with every ounce of positive energy will make Punjab win, Punjabiyat (Universal Brotherhood) win and every Punjabi win!” he tweeted.

Putting an end to the ongoing turmoil in the party’s Punjab unit, sources saidNews18on Thursday that Sidhu would continue as Punjab Congress Committee chief after holding a high-stakes meet with Channi.

The sources further said that most of Sidhu’s demands have been accepted, and the decision is likely to be formally announced at a Cabinet meeting that has been called on 4 October.

The recent appointments of the director-general of police, the advocate general and some “tainted” leaders in the Channi cabinet had reportedly angered Sidhu.

Before his meet with Channi, Sidhu attacked the state’s new DGP, saying that he had wrongly indicted two Sikh youths in a desecration case and gave a clean chit to the Badals.

The desecration of a religious text allegedly took place in Punjab’s Faridkot district in 2015, whose investigation was handed over by the then Parkash Singh Badal-led government to an SIT led by the current DGP Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota.

Sahota was given the additional charge of the state’s DGP by the Charanjit Singh Channi-led government, after which Sidhu quit as the state Congress chief and objected to his appointment.

Inputs from agencies