Ignoring sore throat, Navjot Singh Sidhu goes full throttle in Bathinda

BATHINDA: Despite announcing that his doctors had told him to not to stay quiet and hours after his wife claimed that he won’t campaign for the Congress in the state, Punjab cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu shared the stage with chief minister Amarinder Singh and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday threatening a “knockout punch” to the Badals.

Sidhu, addressing his first rally in Punjab, after campaigning in several other states, focused on the family of former CM and SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal. Badal’s daughter-in-law Union minister Harsimrat Kaur is facing Congress’s Amrinder Singh Raja Warring in Bathinda.

Addressing the rally, Sidhu said that he was taking a vow to get justice for sacrilege incidents and he failed to do so, he would retire from politics. “If I cannot get justice for desecration in this life, my soul will rest, it will keep wandering. Today, I, Navjot Singh Sidhu, son of Bhagwant Singh, take oath to retire from politics if I fail to get justice,” said Sidhu.

He said that on Friday, the last day of mass campaign in the state before it goes to poll on Sunday, he would canvass whole day in Bathinda with the sole motive of defeating Harsimrat. While he has been attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi in different states, in Punjab he kept his focus on Badals.

He blamed Badals for all the ills of Punjab, right from drugs to unemployment. Sidhu said that Punjab was losing its third generation in a series; one was lost to terrorism, other to drugs and the third to immigration. “Our youth are heading towards foreign countries and Punjab will never forgive those who pushed youths into drugs. If we defeat Badals, our coming generations will be saved,” he said.

He also took a swipe at Badal government’s slogans ‘Raj Nahi Sewa’, saying they served only themselves.

In his brief address, Sidhu said Priyanka was his mentor and he had learnt a lot from here. He also praised chief minister Amarinder Singh. Sidhu had accompanied Priyanka in her vehicle to the rally venue.