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‘Captain’s target is Gandhi family…': Sidhu aide on Amarinder Singh
Former IPS officer Mohammad Mustafa, principal strategic advisor to Navjot Singh Sidhu, warned that if the outgoing Punjab CM again calls Sidhu a ‘traitor,’ then 'I will open the whole book.’
A day after Captain Amarinder Singh targeted Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, hours after resigning as the chief minister of the poll-bound state, the latter’s key aide, former IPS officer Mohammad Mustafa, alleged on Sunday that Singh was actually targeting the Gandhis, and not the cricketer-turned-politician.
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“Navjot Singh Sidhu is not a traitor. If after now, Captain Amarinder Singh calls him a traitor, then I will open the whole book. Captain’s target is not Sidhu but the Gandhi family. I will not allow the Captain to target the Gandhi family,” Mustafa, who is Sidhu’s “principal strategic adviser,” told news agency ANI, as suspense continued over who will succeed the veteran Congressman as the chief minister of Punjab, where assembly elections are likely to take place early next year.
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He added that the senior Congress leader had been “humiliating” Punjab for the last five years. “The people in the party have been tolerating him for the last four-and-a-half years. If I was the leader, then I would have removed Singh from the party in 30 days,” Mustafa said.
On Saturday, after bringing down the curtains on his chief ministership, Singh had gone after Sidhu, calling him a “total disaster.” Targeting the state Congress president for hugging Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan and the neighbouring country’s army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, the former Indian Army officer also called Sidhu “incompetent,” and a “threat to national security.”
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The two leaders had feuded for months, before Sidhu was ultimately made the president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC). However, their frosty ties continued even after the former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader’s elevation in the Grand Old Party.
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After submitting his resignation, a “humiliated” Singh had categorically said he will not accept Sindhu being appointed as his successor, should that happen.
