Rahul Gandhi sent me to Pakistan: Sidhu

Hyderabad: Amid the raging row over his Pakistan visit, cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu said Friday it was Congress president Rahul Gandhi who sent him there for attending the foundation laying ceremony of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor.

Sidhu’s visit had riled Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who said on record he tried to dissuade Sidhu, a member of his cabinet, following a grenade attack on a religious congregation in Amritsar that left three people dead, but he paid no heed. Singh had blamed Pakistan’s ISI for the attack.

“Rahul Gandhi is my captain. It is he who sent me to Pakistan,” Sidhu told a press conference here when asked about Amarinder Singh’s disapproval of his Pakistan trip.

Sidhu said 50-100 Congress leaders patted him on his back for the visit.

The Congress leader, however, described the Punjab chief minister as a “father figure” to him.