Former cricketer and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu, on Thursday, added a new dimension to the political slugfest around the celebrations of the 550th Guru Nanak Jayanti and the inauguration of Kartarpur corridor.
In what could be a major embarrassment for the Modi government, Sidhu accepted an invitation to attend the inauguration of the corridor, sent to him by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Sidhu, 'discredited' by both the BJP and the Congress, and disliked by the Shiromani Akali Dal, told the Pakistani media that he was "grateful to the prime minister for inviting me to the historic inauguration of the Kartarpur corridor", and added that the Sikh community all over the world "looks forward to visit the holy shrine (Darbar Sahib) associated with their spiritual leader Baba Guru Nanak".
Sidhu's name is not included in the list of 575 names sent to the Pakistan government by New Delhi. Neither the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) nor the Punjab government has invited him, leaving it to him to go like other non-VIP devotees, to Sultanpur Lodhi and Dera Baba Nanak.
When he was a minister in the Capt Amarinder Singh government, Sidhu had been invited by Khan for his swearing-in ceremony. Defying the chief minister's counsel to stay away from the event given the cross-border situation and killing of Indian soldiers, Sidhu attended it, justifying the move as a positive step towards mending Indo-Pak relations.
The invitation has come to him through Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Khan's party, through senator Faisal Javed.
There is already a political slugfest in Punjab over the celebrations, with the SGPC and the Shiromani Akali Dal on one side and the state government on the other. Prime Minister Narendra Mod is , interestingly, expected at both the celebrations, simultaneous in time, and a few yards away by distance!
