Pb Cong workers put hoardings saying Amarinder is their captain

Punjab Congress workers have put out hoardings and banners in Ludhiana city figuring Chief Minister Amarinder Singh with a message "Punjab da captain, sadda captain", days after Navjot Singh Sidhu said his captain was party chief Rahul Gandhi.

The hoardings and banners are placed at key locations in the industrial town. Notably, several ministers in the Congress government in Punjab have thrown their weight behind the chief minister after a controversy erupted following Sidhu's remarks.

Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad on Friday, Sidhu had said that Congress president Rahul Gandhi was his captain and Capt Amarinder Singh was "an army captain".

The pictures of Punjab minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, the MLA from Ludhiana (West), and Lok Sabha MP from Ludhiana Raveneet Bittu also figure along side the chief minister in these hoardings and banners with a message Punjab da captain, sadda captain (Our captain is the captain of Punjab).

The hoardings also carry pictures of Rahul Gandhi and senior party leader Sonia Gandhi at the top.

Commenting on the hoardings, Bittu said, "Punjab's captain and Sadda (our) captain is Amarinder Singh. You will find such hoardings in the city. People immensely love Capt Amarinder Singh ji and party activists have put up big hoardings and banners".

Amarinder Singh was in the Army and served as a captain during the 1965 Indo-Pakistan War.

Some of the ministers, including Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Revenue and Rehabilitation Minister Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria and Sports Minister Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, had called for Sidhu's resignation from the state cabinet.

Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot had even reminded Sidhu that he was not running a comedy show. Sidhu had been a part of a popular TV comedy show aired in India.

Earlier on Monday, Sidhu tried to clear the air over the controversy following his remarks about the chief minister, saying he loved Amarinder Singh.

Sidhu told reporters in Rajasthan, where he has been campaigning for the Congress ahead of the state assembly elections, "You don't wash dirty linen in public. He (Amarinder Singh) is a fatherly figure, I love him, I respect him, I will sort it out myself.