A day after former Amritsar MP Navjot Singh Sidhu fired fresh salvos against Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, SAD cabinet ministers Sikander Singh Maluka and Sharanjit Singh Dhillon on Monday dubbed his remarks as “cheap stunt motivated by petty political publicity”.
Slamming Sidhu and his wife chief parliamentary secretary (CPS) Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu for their ‘unseemly’ behaviour, Punjab irrigation minister Dhillon said: “The Sidhus are making unnecessary statements for the sake of cheap political publicity.”
Even as a formal complaint was lodged with the state BJP unit against Sidhu for spewing venom against the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leadership, its leaders did not miss the opportunity to attack Sidhu and his wife.
Speaking on the sidelines of a private function here, Maluka called the Sidhus “betrayers”. Criticising the role played by the Sidhus in the state politics, he said they had been “trying to vitiate the flourishing environment of SAD-BJP partnership”.
“Whatever Sidhu has achieved in his political career is due to the SAD’s contribution. And thus, instead of raising a finger at the SAD senior leadership, he must analyse what he has done for his constituency and the state,” said Maluka.
Asking Sidhu to stay within his limits, Maluka said: “When state BJP leaders are not passing any comment on the SAD-BJP ties, in what capacity the Sidhus are targeting their own ruling partner?”
Toeing the same line, Dhillon said, “The statements made by the Sidhus leaders against SAD leadership and the SAD-BJP alliance are ‘highly condemnable’ and they should abstain themselves from making ‘false and illogical’ remarks.”
Asking Sidhu to stay within his limits, Maluka said: “When state BJP leaders are not passing any comment on the SAD-BJP ties, in what capacity the Sidhus are targeting their own ruling partner?”
Toeing the same line, Dhillon said, “The statements made by the Sidhus leaders against SAD leadership and the SAD-BJP alliance are ‘highly condemnable’ and they should abstain themselves from making ‘false and illogical’ remarks.”
Meanwhile, taking up the question of rising influence of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Punjab, they said: “Every political party and institution have the right to spread their ideology or mission. SAD has nothing to do with it.”