The infighting in the Punjab Congress has intensified after Navjot Singh Sidhu took a swipe at Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi for slashing power tariff calling it “lollipop” just ahead of polls.

In an apparent attack on his own party-led government in the state, the cricketer-turned-politician urged people to vote only on the agenda of Punjab’s welfare and said that they need a roadmap and not “lollipops”.

His remarks came on a day when Channi announced slashing of the power tariff by Rs 3 per unit for the domestic sector and increasing the dearness allowance for government employees.

Would die but never sell Punjab’s interests: Sidhu

He further asked people to question politicians as to how they would fulfil such promises.

“There should be a question in your mind whether the intention is only government formation or coming to power after speaking lies, making 500 promises or the welfare of the state,” Sidhu said adding that politics has become a profession and it is no longer a mission.

Saying that he would die but never sell Punjab’s interests, Sidhu blamed the previous governments in the state for Punjab’s outstanding debt of Rs 5 lakh crore.

Saying that the debt is to be paid by the people of the state, Sidhu attacked those who maintained that the state coffers are full.

If that is the case, the state government must give Rs 50,000 as salary to the ETT (Elementary Teacher Training) teachers and also pay the contractual teachers, he said.

Channi will sink Congress in 2022: Siddhu 

Last month, a video went viral on social media in which Sidhu had said that Congress is in a dying stage and Channi will sink the grand old party in 2022.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has also called the Punjab government’s decision “a poll stunt”, alleging that the move is aimed at “buying” votes in the run-up to the assembly elections early next year.

Punjab will go to the polls in 2022.