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Punjab polls: Sidhu, Captain supporters wage war of posters
Days after Punjab CM’s supporters in Amritsar installed hoardings claiming that he is the state’s only captain, hoardings backing dissident Congress leader and local MLA Sidhu have surfaced in holy city
The war of words between Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh and dissident Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu is turning into a war of posters in Amritsar.
Days after Amarinder’s local supporters installed hoardings claiming that he is the state’s only captain, hoardings backing Amritsar East MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu have now surfaced in the holy city.
The hoardings that carry the former three-time Amritsar MP’s picture claim that “Sara Punjab Sidhu Naal” (whole Punjab is with Sidhu) and have been installed near the historic Hall Gate and a popular mall on the national highway. The two areas fall under Amritsar East, from where Sidhu was elected to the Punjab assembly in 2017, and Amritsar Central, represented by cabinet minister OP Soni.
Rajbir Singh Johal, a local Congress worker who has installed the hoardings, said: “Whenever we go out, we hear only one voice that Navjot Singh Sidhu should be the state’s chief minister. He is one person who guards the truth and has the guts to speak against injustice.” Claiming that Sidhu will soon start “visiting people”, he said: “Our captain is only Sidhu”.
Sidhu along with some ministers in the state government have been questioning Amarinder’s performance as the chief minister, prompting the party high command to intervene and ask the Punjab unit to accommodate all sections, including the dissident leader.
Earlier this month, Amritsar mayor and Captain loyalist Karamjit Singh Rintu and National Student Union of India state president Akashay Sharma had installed big hoardings mentioning “Punjab Da Ik Hi Captain” (Punjab has only one captain) in the holy city, especially in Sidhu’s constituency. Before that, a non-government organisation had pasted Sidhu’s “missing” posters in his constituency.
