All-rounder Navjot Singh Sidhu on Wednesday virtually slipped into the shoes of Congress party skipper for hurling bouncer after bouncer on the field of drugs at Akali Dal MlA Bikram Majithia in the not-so-friendly match between the old rivals.
The slanging match between the two, that started with the issue of farmers’ suicide but ended with drugs, saw the state local Bodies Minister Sidhu equating Akalis with the “Banaras ke thug” (con) and “Aara ke daaku (robbers)”.
“Banaras ke thug, Aara ke daaku, te Punjab te tussi…sab ik baraabar ho (Con from Banaras, robbers from Aara and you (Akalis) from Punjab…all are the same,” shouted Sidhu.
Rivalry between Sidhu, who was BJP’s former MP from Amritsar, and Majithia, MlA from Majitha which is part of Amritsar, has always been an open secret and its intensity manifested itself in the rage with which the two exchanged barbs with each other.
As the Akali MlA NK Sharma raised the issue of farm loan waiver and farmers suicide during the Zero Hour of the Vidhan Sabha’s maiden session, Sidhu assailed the Akali-BJP combine for doing nothing in its ten years long tenure.
“The time that you were referring was that of your Government. Kumbhkaran v 6 mahineyaan wich uth jaanda hai, tussi 10 saal suttee paye si (even Kumbhkaran wakes up after six months, were you sleeping for all these 10 years)IJ” Sidhu said as he was appreciated with the thumping of benches and laughter by the treasury benches.
As Majithia questioned Congress Government’s intention of fulfilling its promise of farm debt waiver, Sidhu retorted that the opposition has yet not seen their (Congress’) intention. “We are honest and not dacoits like you,” Sidhu told the Akali legislators. Following which, the two indulged in a fiery war of words.
Speaker Rana Kanwar Pal Singh’s repeated pleas to address the chair and take their respective seats, fell on deaf ears as the two continued with the slanging match.
Sidhu asked the Akali legislators to not to scream as that was the reason they were made to sit in the opposition (by the people of the state). He lashed out at them for selling chitta (synthetic drugs).
The cricketer-turned-politician, who was seen in full steam during the House proceedings, once again take on the Akalis during the discussion on Vote-on-Account.
As the former Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa was responding to his successor Manpreet Badal’s allegations of “looting the state exchequer”, Sidhu asked the Akali leader, in his characteristic style, to clearly tell why they looted the state.
“Tu idhar udhar ki baat na kar, yeh bta kaarwaan kyun loota,” he said.
As Dhindsa continued to claim that there was no illegality in Akali-BJP Government’s works, and the Congress Government’s plans to come out with the white paper on state finances was nothing but an attempt to find a way out from not fulfilling its “big” poll promises, Sidhu pointed “ulta chor kotwal ko daante…chori, upar se seena zori”.
Sidhu take on the Akalis for their alleged involvement in the drug trade, and accuse them of destroying the State’s youth by selling chitta.