Punjab cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu has made it clear he will not give up his television career for politics.
“What I do after 6 pm is no one's business," said Mr Sidhu on being questioned about the newly elected chief minister of Punjab Captain Amarinder Singh referring his TV gig to the state’s advocate general for a legal opinion.
Mr Sidhu regularly appears on a popular comedy show ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’ as a celebrity judge.
Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, during a television interview, said he would seek legal opinion on Mr Sidhu’s appearance on a comedy show as a judge.
"I do not know what the Constitution or the law says on this matter. We will have to ask our advocate general to give us an opinion whether a person who is a minister can do what he wants to do," Amarinder Singh said.
Punjab advocate general Atul Nanda told NDTV that his office had received a request for a legal opinion on the matter but he was yet to receive the relevant files.
When asked to comment about the issue of his TV stint being referred to the advocate general, Mr Sidhu said his TV gig wasn’t office of profit.
"Whatever Captain Amarinder Singh said, the boss is always right. But I want to tell you that the term office of profit only implies to a post held under government office.”
“I perform the government duties between 9 AM to 6 PM. If I go anywhere after 6 PM and return by 9 AM, whatever I do at night should not be the business of anybody. Nobody should evince interest in it," said Sidhu.
Navjot Sidhu joined the Congress party before Punjab election and won his Amritsar East seat. Speculation was rife that Mr Sidhu was seeking the deputy chief minister’s position in the Congress government. However, after a comfortable victory with 77 out of 117 seats by Congress, the cricketer-turned-politician has been given a portfolio considered relatively insignificant.
