‘I oppose a system which includes tainted leaders’

Breaking his silence a day after abruptly resigning as the Punjab Congress chief Navot Singh Sidhu on Wednesday raised questions over the appointments of the director general of police advocate general and ldquotaintedrdquo leadersHe said he was ready to make ldquoany sacrificerdquo but would always stand by his principles Plunging the Congress into a fresh crisis months ahead of the assembly elections in the state Sidhu put in his papers on Tuesday shortly after the allocation of portfolios to the members of the new state Cabinet led by Charanjit Singh ChanniMLA Nathuram arrives to meet Sidhu at his residence a day after his resignation from the post of PPCC president in Patiala PicPTISeveral party leaders including ministers Pargat Singh and Amarinder Singh Raja Warring MLA Inderbir Singh Bolaria and Punjab Congress working president Pawan Goel went to his residence in Patiala on Wednesday to meet him Taking to Twitter Sidhu said his objective had always been to improve the lives of people and ldquoto make a differencerdquoldquoTill today I have no personal grudge against anyone nor have I fought personal battlesrdquo Sidhu said in an over fourminute video clip shared on his Twitter handle ldquoMy fight has been on issues and a proPunjab agenda for which I have stood for a long timerdquo he saidApparently referring to senior IPS officer Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota who has been given the additional charge of the director general of Punjab Police Sidhu said ldquoToday I see there is a compromise on those issuesrdquoIn an apparent reference to the 2015 desecration of Guru Granth Sahib incidents in Faridkot he said his first priority was to fight for justice the people have been eagerly waiting forldquoI see those who had given clean chits to the Badals six years ago have been given the responsibility of delivering justicerdquo he added Sahota was the head of a special investigation team formed in 2015 by the then Akali government to probe the sacrilege incidents Sidhu also apparently questioned the appointment of A P S Deol as the statersquos new advocate general ldquoMy soul jitters when I see those who secured blanket bails they are advocate general What is the agenda hererdquo he askedlsquoSpoke to Amit Shah about farmersrsquo stirrsquo Amid speculation over his future move after resigning as Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh met Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence on Wednesday and said he discussed the prolonged farmersrsquo stir with him After his meeting Singh tweeted ldquoMet Union Home Minister Amit Shahji in Delhi Discussed the prolonged farmersrsquo agitation against FarmLaws amp urged him to resolve the crisis urgently with the repeal of the laws amp guarantee MSP besides supporting Punjab in crop diversification NoFarmersNoFoodrdquolsquoAntiIndia Congress an obvious choice for KanhaiyarsquoBJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia on Tuesday said that the lsquoantiIndiarsquo Congress was an obvious choice for Kanhaiya Kumar whose ideology matches theirs Bhatia said ldquoCongress is the natural first choice of any person be it Kanhaiya Kumar or anyone else with an antiIndia ideologyrdquoIs Lal Singh likely to take Sidhursquos placeAs Congress is looking for a new state president in Punjab in case Navjot Singh Sidhu does not relent the likely replacement for the post could be sixtime MLA Lal Singh the former finance minister of Punjab who held several government and organisational posts earlier sources saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliabilitsy and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever