Navjot Singh Sidhu today assumed the office of the Minister for Local Bodies, putting the controversy over the post of Deputy Chief Minister to rest.
Addressing the media, the former cricketer said: “Captain is like my father. I will take up any role assigned to me. I am happy with anything Captain saab deems fit for me. I have come here for serving Punjab, not for any personal benefits.”
Sidhu arrived in his office accompanied by wife Dr Navjot Kaur and party MLAs Rana Gurjit Singh, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Kuljit Nagra and Pargat Singh.
When asked as to how he would balance his TV assignments with his ministerial responsibilities, Sidhu said: “Janata ki awaaz mein parmatma ki awaaj hai. Jab janata ko koi itraaz nahin to aapko kyon. I will work in office till 3 pm before taking a flight to Mumbai. I will shoot till 3 am and be back in Chandigarh before you people are out of bed. Had people objected to my TV assignments, they would have not elected me by a huge margin of 43,000 votes.”
Sidhu said: “I am just a soldier in the Captain’s army. There were rumours about the posts the Congress would offer me. I am above all this. The BJP had offered me to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Kurukshetra, Chandigarh or West Delhi. Later, I was accommodated in the Rajya Sabha, but my heart lies in Punjab.”
He said he had given Rs2 crore from his own pocket to the Amritsar Deputy Commissioner to plant saplings. “I have won six elections in the past 12 years. I dared to call the Badals corrupt.”
Sidhu said: “Had Captain asked me to be just an MLA, I would have gladly done that. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had offered me a lucrative post. AAP thought it could win just by trolling on social media. The Congress is a tried and tested party. My father was an Advocate General associated with the party for 26 years.”
The former Amritsar MP said: “The Local Bodies Department has a lot of potential for public welfare, but vested interests have not allowed it to be achieved. It won’t happen now.”
Talking about vendetta politics, he said: “Two wrongs do not make a right. We have to rise above vendetta politics and serve people to the best of our capabilities. Law will take care of the corrupt.”
Sidhu praised Pargat Singh saying “he has character”. He slammed former Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal and former Revenue Minister Bikram Majithia.
He said for the first time in his life he was feeling the weight of public expectations and wondered if he would live up to those. About challenges facing their government, the minister said: “The only thing that comes in life without trying is dandruff. One has to try for everything else.”
