Navjot Sidhu moves privilege motion against Amritsar official

AMRITSAR - Former cricketer and Amritsar MP Navjot Singh Sidhu has moved a privilege motion against the city’s deputy commissioner, saying that the official was creating hurdles in performing his duties as an elected representative.

In a privilege motion addressed to the Lok Sabha secretary general, Sidhu pointed out that the Amritsar Deputy Commissioner K.S. Panni was deliberately ignoring and humiliating him by excluding him from important events in the Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency.

Sidhu, who is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP, pointed out that Panni deliberately not only did not invite him on Nov 18 during the visit of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to Amritsar but also ensured that he (Sidhu) was not allowed to enter the Amritsar airport and the Golden Temple complex during the dignitary’s visit.

The MP pointed out that there were scores of people from his constituency who had immigrated to Canada and he wanted to submit certain problems faced by them to the Canadian prime minister but he was disallowed from doing so.

“To my utter consternation, the deputy commissioner, Amritsar, who was coordinating all arrangements, did not even bother to send me invite for the function organised on this occasion. Furthermore, as if with a premeditated intent to humiliate me, he had also issued instructions requiring me to keep at least a distance of 200 feet from the cavalcade of the Canadian PM. The most humiliating part has been that I was not allowed to enter Darbar Sahib along with the Canadian PM,” Sidhu said in his communication.

He said that on earlier occasions also, the district administration had deliberately tried to ignore him during important functions.

Sidhu termed the episode as a blatant insult to an elected representative.

The MP’s communication sought action against the official, saying: “Under the circumstances, I request that privilege proceedings may be initiated against the deputy commissioner, Amritsar, for causing obstruction in performance of my duties, blatantly violating the protocol norms and causing humiliation to me.”