Sidhu out of political coma,slams Aviation Minister for turning down his requests for Amritsar airport

Intriguingly,three-time MP Sidhu who had been keeping away from Amritsar for months together now,broke his silence in a press statement today to a reply by Ajit Singh to him dated March 30,2013 over the issue of said flights.

Inaccessible for last many days,Sidhu remained incommunicado today also and was not available to comment when attempts were made for his comment for the timing of his statement to Ajit Singh’s reply and his silence over his wife’s remarks.

His wife with her tirade against party,where she had gone on to slam party for sidelining a “man with mission in politics” Sidhu who as compared “Rs. 70 thousand salary as MP” got “Rs 8 lakh for half an hour’s talk”,might have left no stone unturned to target BJP for allegedly sidelining Sidhu,but the press statement by MP’s office today interestingly used an adjective of “firebrand BJP MP” for him while attributing a statement to him where he said,“had Mr Ajit Singh knowing the ABC of promoting tourism,he would have never said no to these flights connectivity with Amritsar”.

“In July 2012,I had written a special three-page memo to the civil aviation minister requesting to re-start Amritsar – Toronto via Birmingham flight and linking upcoming New Delhi – Sydney flight with Amritsar,but,Mr Ajit Singh has turned down both my requests,” the statement said,quoting Sidhu,terming it as “gross injustice to not only with people of holy city,but,the whole of Punjab”.

Notably,raising the issue of flights for Amritsar airport was among an array of initiatives Sidhu;s wife had listed which she had underlined could not mature either due to indifferent attitude of centre government or state government in Punjab,where her party BJP is ally of SAD in the ruling government.

Sidhu’s wife had said that Sidhu would return to the world of TV after being sidelined by party. Sidhu has been busy in cricket assignments for the past few months. He also participated in Big Boss show where he cut short his participation to campaign for Narendra Modi in Gujarat polls and as per his wife suffered a loss of Rs. 6 crore by pulling out of the show early.

After Sidhu’s wife stunned BJP leadership with her remarks,BJP president Rajnath Singh reportedly had a discussion with Sidhu over the issue. Sidhu’s statement today comes close on the heels of visit of BJP leader and leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley’s wife Sangeeta Jaitley to Amritsar a couple of days back. Jaitley’s name is reportedly among the prospective alternate candidates of BJP from Amritsar.

With Sidhu’s wife making it public that Sidhu was not taken into confidence while selecting district BJP unit and state BJP unit,there have been talks that going was tough for Sidhu in case he contested from Amritsar in the upcoming polls.

His winning margin coming down considerably in the last elections and his strained relationship with Akali heavyweight from the region Bikram Singh Majithia and other BJP leaders are being cited among other factors that put Sidhu in a tight spot in the upcoming polls in case he is the BJP candidate from Amritsar in 2014 polls.