CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government is likely to take legal opinion on whether cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, who is the local bodies minister in the state, can continue doing TV shows or not. Meanwhile, Sidhu is believed to have asked Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh that the housing and urban development department too should be entrusted to him.
Sources said that Singh might seek the opinion of the Attorney General of Punjab, Atul Nanda, to check if Sidhu's decision to continue doing the show ‘The Kapil Show’ involves a conflict of interest or contravenes any rule.
Sidhu was caught in the eye of a controversy after he had said that he would split his time between his work as minister and shooting for entertainment shows in Mumbai. He had said that he would continue to appear in the show, but would ensure it did not create any hindrance to his work as minister. He had assured the people that he would catch a plane every evening to Mumbai and would return to Chandigarh in the morning before his official work began.
The CM was reportedly not happy with Sidhu’s statement as he had made headlines in the media for all wrong reasons. Navjot Kaur Sidhu, Sidhu’s wife, however, said that her husband would quit the TV show in case of conflict of interest.
Meanwhile, while addressing a meeting of officials of the local bodies department on Monday, Sidhu reportedly told them that housing and urban development department should also be given to him and he had already requested Singh for the same. He reasoned that local bodies, and housing and urban development department was one ministry in the Union government. The CM had promised to look into his request, said sources.
At present, the Punjab CM holds the housing and urban development portfolio. Before allocation of the ministries, Sidhu had demanded that Excise and Taxation department should be given to him but the request was turned down by Singh, who holds the excise department too.
Sidhu had reportedly joined the Congress after he was promised the deputy chief minister post, but the CM decided to do away with the post after the government was formed.