A day after Assembly poll results, PPCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu welcomes power shift in Punjab

GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 11

A day after the Congress was routed in the Punjab Assembly election, PPCC President Navjot Singh Sidhu has welcomed the change ushered in by the electorate.

The Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) President today moved in the East constituency, he represented as a lawmaker. Congress was decimated in Punjab and was restrained at just 18 seats in the recent assembly polls.

Welcoming the power shift in favour of AAP in Punjab, he said, “This politics was for the change. I congratulate AAP people who have changed the ‘traditional’ system and laid a new foundation for ‘badlav’ (change). It should be accepted humbly because people’s voice is the voice of God. I never see win or lose in them. I see my progress with their prosperity. There is no question of profit or loss”, he said.

Taking a veiled dig at his own party and its choice for the ‘CM’ post, he said, “It is not proper to go deep into whether the people liked high command’s choice or not. I don’t want to go deep into it”, he said while refusing to comment on whether the results could be different had he been the CM face of the Congress.

On party’s dismal performance and his negligible presence in the party’s campaigning in other places as a star campaigner, he said that when party high command had given the reins in the hands of  his  ‘younger brother’ Charanjit Singh Channi, he kept aside.

He said that the mandate was given to Congress five years back, but we were unable to take advantage of it. “Now AAP has been given a chance for the next five years. We will analyse its performance as a watchdog”, he said.

Launching an attack on his rivals, he said that they fell in the same pit they dug for him.

“As you sow, so shall you reap. ‘Tin-chaar tan main much mantri bhugat te (I have dealt with three-four CMs.) Who says that punishment of sacrilege is not given? Where did they go who used to do politics in the name of Panth? I always raised my voice to bring justice to sacrilege cases and corrupt systems. Punjab’s progress is not possible till its income is streamlined”, he said.

On his future plans, he said that his aim was the prosperity of Punjab from which he could never deviate from. “I stand by Punjab and will always be there for its progress”, he said.