Lashing out at
Navjot Singh Sidhu’s criticism of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Aam
Admi Party (AAP) MLA Raghav Chadha called the Congress politician “the Rakhi
Sawant of Punjab politics”.
Raghav Chadha’s
diatribe against Navjot Sidhu came after Sidhu posted a video on Twitter with
the caption, “Exploitation of farmers and decreasing prices even on crops where
MSP is announced – Arvind Kejriwal ji you notified the Private Mandi’s central
black law! Has it been de-notified or the masquerading is still going on?”
Reacting to this,
Raghav Chadha wrote, “The Rakhi Sawant of Punjab politics – Navjot Sidhu – has
received a scolding from Congress high command for non stop rant against Capt.
Therefore, today, for a change, he went after Arvind Kejriwal. Wait till
tomorrow for he shall resume his diatribe against Capt with vehemence (sic).”
Navjot Sidhu’s
criticism of the Delhi chief minister on his stance on the contentious farm
laws comes after the cricketer-turned-comedy show judge-turned-politician
criticised Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Badal for laying the
groundwork for the farm laws.
Last year, the
Delhi government came under severe criticism after it chose to notify one of
the three contentious farm laws while other political parties protested against
the Centre’s legislation. Navjot Sidhu’s criticism on Friday harkened back to
the same attack.
At the time, AAP
had said that the notification would allow farmers to sell crops at markets of
their choice and since agricultural produce sales were de-regulated in Delhi
years ago, it would help farmers if the government were to notify the law.
The AAP’s
political rivals said that this was a display of double standards on the part
of Arvind Kejriwal who while supporting the farmers’ protests against the three
agricultural laws in public had chosen to notify one of the laws in Delhi.
For months now,
the Punjab Congress has been stuck in a turf war between Punjab Chief Minister
Amarinder Singh and the relatively new Congressman Navjot Sidhu. Despite the
Congress high command in Delhi making several attempts to calm tempers, the turf
war has raged. This is what Raghav Chadha meant when he said Sidhu would go
back to criticism the Punjab chief minister from tomorrow. Meanwhile, Chadha’s calling
Navjot Sidhu ‘Rakhi Sawant of Punjab politics’ has attracted criticism from
various sections of social media with many finding the MLA’s comment sexist.