CHANDIGARH: In a first veiled attack directly aimed at Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, his former Cabinet colleague and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday questioned him for 'evading' responsibility as the Home Minister during the 2015 sacrilege case.
"Is sacrilege case not the top priority for the Home Minister, " Sidhu asked the CM on Twitter.
"Evading of responsibility and making only the Advocate General a scapegoat means the executive authority has no supervisory control. Who controls the AG? Legal team is just a pawn in this game of shifting responsibilities, " the cricketer-turned-politician added.
For quite some time, Sidhu, who has been lying low in the political circles since he had resigned from his post as a Cabinet minister in July 2019 after differences with the Chief Minister over portfolio allocation to him, has been blaming his government for 'weak' investigation into the cases related to the sacrilege issue.
Two persons were killed and many others were injured after the police under the previous SAD-BJP government resorted to unprovoked firing on hundreds of people protesting against the alleged desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib in Bargari village in Faridkot district in 2015.
"It is not a failure of the government or the party, but one person who is hand in glove with the culprits, " Sidhu had said two days back.
Also taking the government to task over the narcotics cartels in Punjab, Sidhu asked what action has been taken by the government for punishing the drugs kingpins.
"Reports, investigations and evidence by efficient cops, yet big fish roam free while small-fry's rot in jail...Why the powerful behind drug trade who nearly destroyed a generation of Punjab not punished, " he asked.
A much-awaited meeting between Amarinder Singh and Sidhu was held after a long gap at the former's residence on March 17. The meeting was held over evening tea and lasted for nearly 45 minutes.
It was the second meeting between the two leaders after Sidhu resigned from the state Cabinet in 2019.
It was learnt at that time that the meeting would pave the way for the re-induction of Sidhu into the state Cabinet.
The state is scheduled to go to the polls in less than a year's time.