New Delhi: In what is seen as more than just politics or mundane governmental issues, former Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh, on Thursday, Sept 30, held a closed-door meeting with National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval.
Capt Amarinder had been talking about Pakistan's ill intentions in Punjab and had called for an adequate guard against Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu, showing open admiration for Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and army chief Gen Javed Bajwa.
After landing in Delhi on Tuesday, the 'ousted' Punjab Chief Minister had denied any plans to meet with BJP leaders and said he was in the capital to vacate the Kapurthala House for the new Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi.
However, he held discussions of farmers' stir with Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday and thus, the meeting with NSA Doval has a significance of its own. However, the meeting between NSA and former Punjab Chief Minister "does not have any political significance, and it would be purely related to security and strategic issues."
Even in 2019 November, on the eve of the inauguration of the Kartarpur Corridor, Capt Amarinder had cautioned that India "will have to be careful" while moving ahead on Kartarpur.
"I have been maintaining for a long time that Pakistan has a hidden agenda," he had said, adding, "On one hand, they will first show us love and on the other, they can try to foment trouble."
Lately, Capt Amarinder has said Sidhu does not have the maturity to run a show in a border state. Even after Sidhu tendered his resignation as Punjab Congress chief on Tuesday, the former Chief Minister tweeted: "I told you so… he is not a stable man and not fit for the border state of Punjab".
It is also a fact that Pakistan has played its dirty tricks in the past. The 'Lahore Bus' drive by PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee was reciprocated with Kargil in 1999, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lahore visit to greet Nawaz Sharif on his birthday in 2015 was returned with Pathankot and also Uri about nine months later.
BJP Punjab in charge, Dushyant Gautam, has said that no political discussions took place with Capt Amarinder but the BJP "always welcomes a nationalist in the party".
