New Delhi: Punjab chief minister-designate Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday ruled out appointing a deputy thus dashing the hopes of supporters of cricketer-turned-politician Navjyot Singh Sidhu.
In an interview to Vir Sanghvi on Virtuosity, Singh said he does not want to create two power centres, but said Sidhu will be minister in his cabinet.
"Which portfolio (he gets) is for later, but Sidhu will be a minister for sure. It is a commitment by our leadership in Delhi. He will be part of the government," Singh said.
Singh said that but for exceptions there was precedent of the state having a deputy chief minister."It was only Mrs Bhattal who was in my time and we were having differences of opinion. And then there was Mr Sukhbir Badal. Otherwise Punjab has never had a deputy since the elections started in 1950s till now. No point in making power centres as that would be harmful to the state."
To a question on how he got along with Sidhu during the election campaign in Punjab, Amarinder had words of praise for Sidhu's popularity as a TV show host and his pull among voters.
"I have never seen his programme but what I hear people do watch it. So there must be something to it. That also helps. Look at his performance in Amritsar. He won by 42,000 votes which is a big thing," the CM-designate said.
Amarimder also slammed Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal over his allegations of EVM tampering in the recently concluded state elections.
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