On Navjot Sidhu's 8 Lakh Power Dues, A Dig By Akalis At Amarinder Singh

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today took a dig at Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh over reports of rebel Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu's unpaid power bills amid a crisis in the sector. The former cricketer has, for the past many weeks, been needling his own party's state government over several issues, including recent measures taken to tackle the state's difficult electricity situation.

"Captain saab, if you have got some time from harassing the people of Punjab with power crises, then please pay your attention to the minister who has pending electricity bills worth lakhs of rupees. And shower your blessings upon him," SAD tweeted today with a meme on Mr Sidhu. It tagged both the Congress leaders in the tweet.

The Congress leader owes Rs 8,67,540, charged to his Amritsar home, to the Punjab State Power Corporation, according to records. Yesterday was the last date for making the payment. While Mr Sidhu hasn't commented on the matter, he was yesterday heard criticising the Chief Minister for the ongoing power crisis.  

"There is no need for power cuts in Punjab or for the Chief Minister to regulate office timings or AC use of the common people...if we act in the right direction," Mr Sidhu wrote in a Twitter thread.

The Punjab government on Thursday had reduced the timings of government offices and ordered cut down on power supply to high energy-consuming industries as demand soared to over 14,000 MW a day.

Power shortage has become a major election issue now with Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party even promising 300 units of free power to every household if the party wins the polls due early next year.

Chief Minister Singh is in charge of the power ministry. Mr Sidhu was offered the ministry when he resigned in 2019 over what he felt was a downgrade.