Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu’s wife and ex-MLA Navjot Kaur claimed that not a single posting in the police department in Punjab happened without a “gift or payment” to Aroosa Alam
File photo of Navjot Kaur Sidhu. News18
Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu’s wife former MLA Navjot Kaur Sidhu on Saturday slammed former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh for his links with Pakistani journalist Aroosa Alam.
She claimed that not a single posting in the police department in Punjab happened without a “gift or payment” to Aroosa Alam, Captain’s long-time friend from across the border.
Kaur said Alam had taken away all that money to Pakistan, and that Captain should also “go to Pakistan and enjoy his time there with her”, News 18 quoted her as saying.
“We were never heeded because I never let my husband (Navjot Singh Sidhu) get close to Aroosa,” she added
Her scathing attack against Captain comes a day after Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said a probe would be carried out to ascertain whether Alam has links with the Inter-Services Intelligence.
Singh hit back at the Congress leader, saying Randhawa is now resorting to personal attacks.
The deputy chief minister said it “would be probed” whether Alam has any links with Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), adding that he has asked the director general of police (DGP) to look into it.
Singh said Alam had been coming to India for 16 years with due clearances from the Centre.
“You were a minister in my cabinet@Sukhjinder_INC. Never heard you complain about Aroosa Alam.
“And she’d been coming for 16 years with due GoI clearances. Or are you alleging that both NDA and @INC India led UPA govts in this period connived with Pak ISI?,” the former chief minister’s media adviser quoted him as saying on Twitter on Friday.
Randhawa, who also holds the home portfolio in Punjab, claimed that Singh has been friends with Alam for years, she stayed in India for many years and her visa was extended by the Centre from time to time.
He told reporters in Jalandhar on Thursday that it was only after the recent developments in the Punjab Congress, which saw Singh’s exit as the chief minister, that Alam went back to Pakistan.
Randhawa said when Singh was the chief minister, he kept saying that being a border state, Punjab always faced a threat with several seizures of drones and ammunition coming in from across the border.
“Aroosa was in India for four-and-a-half years and her visa was also extended from time to time. Why did Delhi not cancel her visa? Why did she leave India when we went against Amarinder Singh?” he asked, referring to developments in the Punjab Congress last month.
“I think all this needs to be probed and Captain Amarinder too will have to give answers to these questions,” the Congress leader added.
Hitting back at Randhawa, Singh said, “So now you’re resorting to personal attacks @Sukhjinder_INC. One month after taking over this is all you have to show to the people. What happened to your tall promises on Bargari & drugs cases? Punjab is still waiting for your promised action.”
He said instead of focusing on maintaining law and order, the deputy chief minister has put the DGP on a “baseless investigation”.
“What I’m worried about @Sukhjinder_INC is that instead of focusing on maintaining law and order at a time when terror threat is high and festivals are around the corner, you’ve put @DGP Punjab Police on a baseless investigation at the cost of Punjab’s safety,” he said.
Randhawa has stepped up the attack on Singh after the latter’s unceremonious exit as chief minister.
He called Singh an “opportunist” after the former chief minister announced that he would launch his own political party.
Meanwhile, on Friday, Captain’s media adviser Raveen Thukral had shared a photograph of Alam shaking hands with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
With inputs from agencies