Chandigarh, August 19
Punjab Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday appointed former IPS officer Mohammad Mustafa as his top strategic adviser.
The development followed a day after Mustafa, the husband of Punjab Cabinet Minister Razia Sultana, turned down Sidhu’s offer to appoint him as one of his four advisers.
“Mohd Mustafa is hereby appointed Senior Strategic Advisor to the Chairman of the PPCC, the undersigned, Navjot Singh Sidhu, with immediate effect,” said a statement released by the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee.
“He would act as the PCC’s coordinator to the AICC on matters relating to his area and on any other matters the president may deem appropriate,” he added.
“I love being associated with Razia Ji and Mustafa sahib,” Sidhu said in a tweet.
Besides Mustafa, Sidhu had on August 11 appointed three advisers: Lok Sabha MP Amar Singh, former registrar of Faridkot-based Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Pyare Lal Garg and former government teacher Malvinder Mali Singh.
But Mustafa had refused to accept the appointment.
After becoming the leader of the PPCC, Sidhu had contacted several leaders and visited their residences, including Mustafa’s.
Mustafa and fellow IPS officer Siddharth Chattopadhyaya had challenged the appointment of IPS officer Dinkar Gupta as Punjab police chief by the Amarinder Singh government in 2019.
The state government had appointed Gupta DGP of Punjab, removing the seniority of other IPS officers including Mustafa.
Sidhu has already appointed Jalandhar Cantonment MLA Pargat Singh as General Secretary (Organization) of PPCC.
The cricketer-turned-politician had also appointed two media advisers, Jagtar Singh Sidhu and Surinder Dalla, on Wednesday. PTI
