Amritsar: Several hoardings which had surfaced here across the holy city, hailing Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan as ‘real heroes’ for turning the Kartarpur Corridor project into a reality, were Wednesday brought down hurriedly by some unknown persons and municipal workers.
The hoardings, which surfaced Tuesday, credited the cricketer-turned-politicians for making the project, giving Sikh devotees an easy access to the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara across the border in Pakistan, a reality.
The hoardings, carrying Navjyot Singh Sidhu’s picture alongside Imran Khan’s, read in Gurmukhi, “Sidhu and Imran Khan are the real heroes for making the Kartarpur corridor project a reality… the credit goes to them.” However, Wednesday all of them vanished.
The hoardings, hailing Sidhu and Khan as ‘real heroes’ of the corridor project, had been put up in the city by former cricketer’s staunch supporter and municipal Councillor Harpal Singh Verka, whose picture too adorned the hoardings.
Verka said he put up hoardings at various prominent locations including Ranjit Avenue, Mall Road and Amritsar East Assembly constituency, from where Sidhu is an MLA.
Sidhu’s wife and former MLA Navjot Kaur Sidhu said removing hoardings was prerogative of the administration.
Talking to mediapersons here, Kaur said, “As far as the matter of removal of hoardings at various locations of the city is concerned, I feel nothing wrong in it, it is prerogative of administration, as the hoardings were carrying pictures of prime minister of another country. Moreover, all such hoardings were up put by one of the municipal councilor who never asked us before installing the hoardings in the city.”
It should be stated here that Navjot Singh Sidhu had drawn the flak for hugging Pakistan’s army chief during his Islamabad visit last year.
Sidhu, then however, had defended his act of hugging Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa at the swearing-in ceremony of the Pakistan prime minister, saying it was his ‘emotional response’ on learning that Sikh pilgrims may now be allowed to visit the Kartarpur shrine across the border.
PTI