He said spiritual, religious, and medical tourism had the capacity to change the destinies of nations. He recalled the visit of the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Pakistan on a bus and said that it had opened a passage of love and peace between two nations. “When Karachi-Mumbai route can be opened for the rich, why can’t the Lahore-Amritsar route be opened for common Punjabis? Why shouldn’t the whole of Punjab not visit Nankana Sahib? Why should tourism not be promoted?” Sidhu questioned as he promoted religious and medical tourism between the two neighbours. Why should we go through Mundra Port, a total of 2,100 km? Why not from here, where it's only 21 km (between Amritsar and Lahore),” he said. Sidhu recalls Vajpayee bus visit to Pakistan “I request that if you want to change lives in Punjab, we should open the borders (for cross-border trade). Highlighting the immense trade potential between Indian and Pakistan during his interaction with the media, Sidhu said this could guarantee economic prosperity for both the countries.
Sidhu’s short visit via the 4.5-km visa-free corridor had already led to speculation of a rift between Sidhu and chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi as the PCC chief was not included in the delegation that accompanied the Punjab CM to Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara on November 18. “Let BJP say whatever it wants,” the Punjab PCC president said. During an interaction with the media later, Sidhu was very clear that he had nothing to say.
The party targeted Sidhu and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and also raised the issue of Sidhu hugging Pakistan army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa during his visit to Pakistan for Imran’s swearing-in ceremony in August 2018. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politicians, who also tweeted a video, fiercely objected to Sidhu apparently describing the Pakistani cricketer-politician as his ‘elder brother’ while talking to the chief executive officer of the Kartarpur Corridor Project Management Unit Muhammad Latif.
GURDASPUR/JALANDHAR: Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu was embroiled in a controversy over his purported remarks about Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan after he crossed the Kartarpur Corridor to pay obeisance at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Kartarpur Sahib town on Saturday afternoon.