Sidhu goes on hunger strike today to get funds for Amritsar

To protest against stalling of disbursement of development funds for his Amritsar constituency, BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday said he would go on a fast-unto-death from Saturday.

“I know what are my duties towards the development of Amritsar being an elected MP. I will do my duty honestly without criticising anybody and without speaking against anybody. I will sit on a fast-unto-death from tomorrow (Saturday). Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh has directed me to remain silent. But my duty towards Amritsar would never be stopped,” said Sidhu, who returned from Delhi on Friday.

He said, “Everybody knows why I am going to take such an extreme step and how my five or six major developmental projects including Solid Waste Management, City Bus Service, Multiple Sport Complex, expansion of Bhandari Bridge were scuttled. The Amritsar Improvement Trust had Rs 160 crore funds, but no development work was carried in the past six years. Instead Rs 60 crore were diverted to others districts of Punjab with the aim to scuttle my projects,” he said.

“I was unable to convince the authority for development of Amritsar,” he said, adding “the decision to go on fast is my own.”

‘No respect’

Union minister Jairam Ramesh on Friday took a jibe at cricketer-turned-MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, saying he had warned him against joining BJP.

“I time and again asked him how many days you will stay in BJP where you (Sidhu) will not get any respect and where you will be seen as danger,” Ramesh said. The Union Rural Development minister said he wanted Sidhu, whom he called a good friend, to join Congress before the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.