"His Intention Is Good, But...": Navjot Sidhu On Chief Minister Charanjit Channi

It is up to the Congress leadership to decide on a chief ministerial candidate in Punjab, Navjot Singh Sidhu said today, days after a senior leader said the party would not announce any name ahead of the state election. 

The Punjab Congress chief said he considered himself a soldier, doing his job and fighting on issues critical to Punjab, like its debt and fiscal deficit. 

"We are soldiers, we are doing our job. Those who want to make trouble are doing that. Sidhu is firm on issues. He does issue-based politics. And the biggest issue currently is that we have more than Rs 3 lakh crore debt. Our fiscal deficit is huge," Mr Sidhu told NDTV in an interview.

On allegations that he has been promising freebies during his campaign, the cricketer-turned-politician said: "This election is an investment. It is for the next generation. We are incentivizing. If we say that children will get some reward when they study. Is that a lollipop or freebie?" 

The outspoken Congress leader also tackled a question on his unrelenting criticism of his own party government in Punjab, which has not spared even Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi. 

"His (Mr Channi's) intention is good. But he needs to follow through with budgetary allocation, research and proper policy to salvage the state," Mr Sidhu said. 

In recent weeks, Mr Sidhu has been heard questioning his government for not arresting Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who has been booked in a drug case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.  

Mr Sidhu said he believed in being open about his critique as his intention was to lay the agenda for the Congress government. 

"When Captain Amarinder singh was in power, I said everything behind closed doors. But to what result? There is no harm in saying this. We are giving them (the government) an agenda." 

But he stoutly denied attacking Punjab Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa. "Have I taken his name? Look at my patience. I have not spoken against anyone. Tell me what I have said. Sidhu never says anything against his own. It is all hawai baatein (empty talk)," Mr Sidhu said. 

The Congress leader, however, did not hold back when it came to rival Amarinder Singh, who quit the Congress and launched his own party after he was replaced as Chief Minister in September and who recently joined hands with the BJP.  

"When your captain becomes friends with the enemy, when your captain sells out Congress, then your captain is a traitor. We threw him out," Mr Sidhu remarked, calling his former Congress colleague a "spent force". 

"His own wife is not with him - then who else is? How many were with him the day he was thrown out? The day he said he was humiliated?" he said.