Congress central leadership asked me to go to Kartarpur: Sidhu

Amid the criticism over Pakistan visit, Punjab Cabinet Minister, Navjot Singh Sidhu said that he went for the Kartapur Corridor inauguration ceremony with the consent of his party's central leadership.

"At least 20 Congress leaders asked me to go, Central leadership asked me to go. The Central leadership of the party asked me to go. Punjab Cabinet Minister is like my father, I told him that I had already promised them (Pakistan) that I will go," Sidhu told news agency ANI.
 
Sidhu also slammed people criticising his visit saying that the critics mocked and made fun of him are "now licking their own spit and taking U-turns."

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"When I first went to Pakistan and talked about them promising Kartarpur Corridor, the critics mocked and made fun of me, now the same people are licking their own spit and taking U-turns; ANI reported," ANI quoted him as saying.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday laid the foundation stone for the corridor linking Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan's Kartarpur - the final resting place of Sikh faith's founder Guru Nanak Dev - to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India's Gurdaspur district.

Congress leader Navjot Singh Sindhu was one of the invitees, who went to Pakistan to attend the groundbreaking ceremony on November 28.

The leader became a subject of controversy after a photograph of him with a pro-Khalistani leader went viral. 

In August, Sidhu had gone to Islamabad for the oath-taking ceremony of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. That visit also racked up a controversy after Sidhu claimed that Pakistan as opening the Kartarpir Corridor.

The Kartarpur Corridor, which will facilitate the visa-free travel of Sikh pilgrims on both sides, is expected to be completed within six months.