Navjot Singh Sidhu takes U-Turn, targets Congress, calls Bhagwant Mann `honest man`

Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu said that Congress lost Punjab because of the mafia raj that prevailed in the state and it now needed to reinvent itself.

Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu, who had to face an embarrassing loss in the 2022 Punjab Assembly Election, said that Congress lost Punjab because of the mafia raj that prevailed in the state and it now needed to reinvent itself.

Interestingly, the Congress leader also praised the new Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and called him an honest man and his “Younger Brother.”

The former Punjab Congress chief also said he will support Mann, whose Aam Aadmi Party trounced the Congress in the recent assembly polls, if he fights against the mafia.

“He is an honest man,” Sidhu told reporters at the sidelines of an event where Amrinder Singh Raja Warring took charge as the state Congress president.

“Congress needs to reinvent itself. I did not speak earlier but everybody has a right to speak and I say today that the Congress lost because of the five-year rule of the mafia raj,” he added.

Sidhu had resigned as Congress Punjab chief after the party's defeat in the Punjab elections.

Sidhu said he has always fought against the mafia. Though he did not elaborate, Sidhu has in the past criticised his own Congress government in the state over alleged mafias in sand-mining, transport and cable TV sectors.

“My fight was not against any individual. It was against the system and against some persons who were eating into the state like termites.” the ex cricketer-turned politician said.

Calling Bhagwant Mann his younger brother, Sidhu said that he will support AAP in Punjab’s fight against Mafia.

“He is an honest man. I have never raised a finger at him. If he fights against it my support is with him, even rising above party lines because it is a fight for Punjab's existence,” said Sidhu/

For months before the elections, Sidhu had questioned the leadership of the then chief minister Amarinder Singh. He also directed barbs at Charanjit Singh Channi, who took over as the CM ahead of the elections.

The AAP stormed to power after winning 92 seats out of 117 while the Congress got just 18.

Following the party's drubbing in the five states that went to the polls earlier this year, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had asked the party chiefs there to resign.

(With PTI inputs)