"It's The Way He Thinks": Amarinder Singh vs Navjot Sidhu On Kartarpur

Punjab minister Navjot Sidhu's decision to visit Pakistan for the ground-breaking ceremony of Kartarpur Sahib corridor has not pleased his boss Amarinder Singh, who turned down Islamabad's invite citing terror attacks in Pathankot and Amritsar. Mr Siddhu had accepted the invitation, bragging that his controversial hug for Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Bajwa has "turned out good for 15-16 crores of people" since it led to the building of the long-awaited corridor.

Mr Sidhu's decision to go to Pakistan was "his way of thinking", the Chief Minister said. "I only know my responsibility as Chief Minister and a Sikh, so that is why we wanted this Kartarpur Corridor to happen. But it is also my responsibility is to maintain law and order and that prevents me from going (to Pakistan)," added the Chief Minister, who also launched a scathing attack on the Pakistan army chief Qamar Bajwa over the terror strikes.

Mr Sidhu has defended his decision to go, citing the words of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "PM said, 'If Berlin wall can fall, why not this?' So I'm saying the same thing... religion unites," he told reporters.

Mr Singh and his minister have not seen eye to eye about Mr Sidhu's hug for General Bajwa - which snowballed into a huge political controversy in August, after the former cricketer visited Pakistan for his cricketing buddy and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's oath ceremony.

"The man (Sidhu) should understand that our soldiers are being killed every day. My own regiment lost one major and two jawans a few months ago," Amarinder Singh had said.

Mr Sidhu had claimed he was expressing his happiness when Mr Bajwa told him that the Pakistan government was working for opening of the Kartarpur corridor for Sikh pilgrims from India.

This time, he also handed the credit for the corridor to Imran Khan. "The Prime Minister of Pakistan is an instrument of change," he told NDTV in an interview yesterday.