Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday praised the Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, calling him his younger brother and an honest man. This comes a day after the cricketer-turned politician called the chief minister a ‘rubber da gudda’ or rubber doll.
“He is an honest man. I have never raised a finger at him. If he fights against it my support is with him, even rising above party lines, because it is a fight for Punjab's existence.”,” news agency PTI quoted Sidhu.
Sidhu said he will support Mann if he fights against mafia. The Congress leader had said that the Grand Old Party lost the Punjab elections because of ‘mafia raj’ and now needed to reinvent itself.
“I did not speak earlier but everybody has a right to speak and I say today that the Congress lost because of the five-year rule of the mafia raj,” he added.
The cricketer-turned politician had criticised his own government in the state, calling for crackdown against ‘alleged’ mafias in sand-mining, transport and cable TV sectors.
“Till the time politics remain a business it will not be respected. When Punjab becomes mafia-free, the state will rise," he added.
On Thursday, Sidhu had launched an all out attack on the Punjab chief minister and the Aam Aadmi Party government over the law and order situation in the state.
“The CM should be a self-respecting man who could not be pulled by strings,” the ex-MLA from Amritsar East said, while calling Mann a rubber doll.
Bhagwant Mann became the chief minister of Punjab after the Aam Aadmi Party swept the Punjab elections by winning 92 of 117 seats in the Assembly. Sidhu, who was appointed Punjab Congress chief months before polls, lost his own seat Amritsar East in the elections. After the debacle, Sidhu along with the state Congress presidents of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur were asked to resign by Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi.
“The CM should be a self-respecting man who could not be pulled by strings,” the ex-MLA from Amritsar East said, while calling Mann a rubber doll.
Bhagwant Mann became the chief minister of Punjab after the Aam Aadmi Party swept the Punjab elections by winning 92 of 117 seats in the Assembly. Sidhu, who was appointed Punjab Congress chief months before polls, lost his own seat Amritsar East in the elections. After the debacle, Sidhu along with the state Congress presidents of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur were asked to resign by Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi.