Tag: Capt Amarinder Singh

  • ‘Got a message from Pakistan PM to include Navjot Sidhu in Punjab cabinet’: Capt Amarinder Singh

    ‘Got a message from Pakistan PM to include Navjot Sidhu in Punjab cabinet’: Capt Amarinder Singh

    India’s former Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Captain Amarinder Singh during a press conference said that during his tenure as CM, he received a message from Pakistan asking him to reinstate Navjot Singh Sidhu in the Punjab cabinet.

    Soon after dropping Sidhu from his cabinet, he had received a call from a mutual acquaintance from Pakistan, Amarinder told reporters.

    “I got a message that Prime Minister (PM) of Pakistan has sent a request that if you can take Sidhu in your cabinet,” said Amarinder without taking names. “I will be grateful. He is an old friend of mine. If he does not work, you can remove him.”

    Navjot Singh Sidhu arrived in Pakistan to attend the oath-taking ceremony of PM Imran Khan in August 2018.

    Sidhu at the time said that he had come to Pakistan as a goodwill messenger and “with a message of love” to become a part of Khan’s happiness.

     Navjot Singh Sidhu again returned to Pakistan to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kartarpur Corridor in Nankana Sahib, in November 2018.

    It is pertinent to mention here that Amarinder was also present during the inauguration of the Karatpur Corridor.

  • Is PM Imran really related to Indian Punjab CM Amarinder Singh?

    Is PM Imran really related to Indian Punjab CM Amarinder Singh?

    Local media reports are headlining that Prime Minister Imran Khan and Indian Punjab’s Chief Minister Amarinder Singh share family ties. But while the two certainly do share history, they are not related.

    According to an official statement issued by Singh’s office, PM Imran and Singh on their five-minute bus ride on the inauguration of the Kartarpur Corridor discovered a ‘special connect’ between their two families even though they had not met each other before and neither did the two know each other personally.

    Read more: Sikhs demand Nobel prize for Imran over Kartarpur opening

    The statement read, “During his conversation with [PM] Imran, Captain Amarinder told the latter that his uncle, Jahangir Khan had played for Patiala, along with Mohd Nisar, Lala Amarnath, fast bowler Amar Singh and the two Ali batsmen (Wazir Ali and Amir Ali).

    “These seven players were part of the team captained by Captain Amarinder’s father, Maharaja Yadvinder Singh (the ruler of the erstwhile Patiala state) in 1934-35, for India and for Patiala.”

    Jahangir was married to PM Imran’s maternal aunt, Mubarak, and was a cricketer during the British Raj era.

    The Congress leader’s office said that the bus ride lasted less than five minutes, but, thanks to cricket, it was enough to break the ice between the two leaders.

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    The Punjab chief minister was part of the group of over 550 Indian pilgrims who were the first Indians to enter Pakistan through the Kartarpur Corridor.

    Singh shared the bus ride with the premier after he was received by PM Imran and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at the Zero Point of the International Border of the Kartarpur corridor.