Punjab minister puts black tape on CM’s name on plaque

A fuming Punjab minister on Monday pasted a broad black tape to cover Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s name written on the foundation stone-laying plaque alongside Vice President Venkaiah Naidu.

He did this to protest names of the Badal father-son duo on the plaque. Naidu, along with other Union ministers, was in Punjab on Monday for the foundation laying ceremony of the prestigious Kartarpur corridor. Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa was left fuming when he saw names of former Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal and his former deputy CM son Sukhbir Singh Badal on the plaque.

After taping the CM’s name, the minister also pasted the black tape over his name and names of other Congress ministers, including the local Congress MP, that were engraved on the plaque. The Akali Dal termed this as “cheap tactics.”

As politics played out on taking credit over the opening of the religious corridor to Pakistan, the plaque was eventually removed from the venue.

Randhawa said, “'I did this in protest against Parkash and Sukhbir Badal's names on stone. Why were their name on the plaque? This is a government function and not BJP-Akali event”.

Denials apart, the Congress, BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) are all attempting to walk away with the credit of getting the corridor with Pakistan opened. The Kartarpur corridor will help Indian pilgrims visit Kartarpur Sahib shrine where Sikhism’s founding sage Sri Guru Nanak Dev spent part of his life.

Randhawa claimed that Badal’s name on the plaque was also against protocol. The minister criticised the BJP and the SAD of hijacking the official function and making it political. While Capt has declined to visit Pakistan for a similar ceremony on November 28 citing Pakistan ISI-sponsored terror attacks in Punjab and killing of Indian soldiers on the border, his cabinet colleague Navjot Singh Sidhu, who courted controversy over hugging the Pakistan Army chief during his recent visit to Pakistan, will be visiting Pakistan on Wednesday on an invite by the Pakistan foreign minister.