The cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu is facing another bouncer. After successfully ducking continuous attacks, Punjab Cabinet Minister Sidhu may find himself once again on a slippery wicket — this time for endorsing a product.
A senior advocate of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, HC Arora, has shot off a letter to Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh over Sidhu's appearance in an advertisement.
Arora has stated that Sidhu should be asked to quit from his post of Cabinet Minister as propriety of the constitutional post requires that he should not participate in advertisements or shows.
Sidhu took oath as a cabinet minister on March 16, along with Chief Minister and other ministers, and soon after courted controversy by announcing that he would continue with ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’.
This is not for the first time Arora has complained against Sidhu. Earlier, the lawyer had filed a complaint against former cricketer over his obscene dialogues and jokes in ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’.
At that time, he had asked the Punjab Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh to take cognizance of the lack of propriety shown by Sidhu on the national television channel.
“It was unbecoming of the minister to use a double meaning language on the show,” said the advocate, asking the Chief Secretary to apprise the Chief Minister of the matter, as such obscenity is punishable under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Sidhu had earlier been provided relief by Punjab Advocate-General Atul Nanda who said that there is no conflict of interest between Sidhu’s office as state cabinet minister and his work on television shows.
However, Arora had argued that Sidhu’s conduct would give rise to “conflict of interest” also as he was bound to enforce the provisions according to which the government employee cannot engage himself into private trade or business.