Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Navjot Sidhu met on Wednesday (file).
Chandigarh:
Punjab Prime Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday dismissed speculation sparked by his lunch meeting with cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, his biggest rival and critic within Congress, and said there was nothing to read. between lines.
“People often make a mountain out of a molehill. Navjot ji wanted to meet me, so I said yes, come for lunch. I call many of the colleagues who want to meet me for lunch. So I invited him like this. He came, He sat for an hour, we talked a lot. We talked about cricket, “he said.
Captain Singh had invited Sidhu to his home for lunch on Wednesday and the two were expected to “discuss state and national politics during the lunch meeting,” the chief minister’s media adviser tweeted, stoking rumors about a possible patch among the two and that I could once again offer Mr. Sidhu a seat in the cabinet.
Sidhu, who was a minister in Amarinder Singh’s government, resigned last year and had exiled himself. The Chief Minister maintained that Mr. Sidhu, who was inducted into the party by the BJP just three years ago, cannot be elevated to the post of state president for now.
Considered close to Rahul Gandhi, Sidhu was awarded the post of chief deputy minister after Congress won the state in 2017. However, he ran into trouble with Amarinder Singh after his visit to Pakistan and controversial photos embracing the chief of the army of the country in an event.
The rift between the two leaders in Punjab, one of the few states ruled by Congress, was seen as a complication for the party, with only two years left before the next assembly elections.
Mr. Sidhu had spoken of the farmers’ protest and some of his criticism has been directed at his own party’s government in the state.
According to sources in Congress, after an intervention by the Prime Minister of Uttarakhand, Harish Rawat, the party designated in charge in the state by the main leaders to close the gap, an approach was attempted.
For the past month, Mr. Sidhu had avoided any criticism of the Chief Minister and even supported his march against the agricultural laws in Delhi.
Wednesday’s meeting between the two, held at Singh’s official residence, was “warm and cordial,” where the two leaders spent a “pleasant hour” discussing a number of “important Punjab political and national issues,” he said. the media advisor to the Chief Minister. .
.
