LUDHIANA: Where leaders of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) declared the efforts of Local Bodies minister Navjot Sidhu for opening of a corridor for Kartarpur, Pakistan, a mere political stunt, the Lok Insaaf Party ( LIP ) MLA instead condemned the Central government for not approaching the Pakistan government for the same. The Akali and BJP leaders claimed Sidhu did all this just to cover his mistake of giving a hug to Pak army chief during his visit to Pakistan.The SAD MLA from Sahnewal, Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, said: “The Pakistan army was killing Indian soldiers brutally, and Sidhu hugged the army chief of Pakistan. It raises several questions, and instead of answering those questions, he concocted a story that the Pak army chief offered to open the Kartarpur corridor for India.” He said Sidhu was doing all this just to gain political mileage, and he had nothing to do with public interest.Echoing the same, state general secretary of BJP, Parveen Bansal, said: “Navjot Sidhu is trying to play smart game by taking the name of Kartarpur corridor when he had to face criticism not only from opposition parties but also from Congress leaders, who opposed his act of giving a hug to the Pak army chief.” He said the issue was sensitive as well as important, and the final decision had to be taken by the Central government and Pakistan government, so Sidhu had nothing to do with it. Bansal said Kartarpur was a holy place, and people have a great desire to visit the birthplace of Guru Nanak Dev, but everything should be done through a proper channel.Meanwhile, district AAP president Daljit Grewal said it was an important issue and religious sentiments were attached with it, but now only politics was being played by all parties on the issue. He said Sidhu was only trying to cover up his mistake, and several times, Pakistan had denied saying anything about the corridor during Sidhu’s visit. Grewal said parties should tackle this issue with maturity, keeping in view the people’s sentiments.However, LIP MLA from South constituency Balwinder Bains supported Sidhu and said: “He is doing it for humanity, not for political benefits. The Central government and even Akali Dal does not want to take any step in this direction.” Bains said SAD-BJP were not in favour of Kartarpur corridor because Sidhu had started talking on this. He said in the assembly, they had asked CM Captain Amarinder Singh to say thanks to Sidhu for at least taking a step in this direction, but he was facing criticism in his own party. Bains said the Indian government would have to take a step further if they required a passage for Kartarpur.Congress MLA Rakesh Pandey too supported Sidhu and said: “The Government of India should take this matter with Pakistan if our neighbouring country is ready to open the corridor. People want to visit the pilgrimage, and it will be a great booster for the relationship of both the countries.”

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