Navjot Sidhu makes ex-IPS officer Mohd Mustafa his strategic advisor: the Tribune India

Chandigarh, August 19

Punjabi Congressman Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday appointed former IPS officer Mohammad Mustafa as his main strategic advisor.

This development came a day after Mustafa, the husband of Punjabi Cabinet Minister Razia Sultana, refused Sidhu’s offer to appoint him as one of his four advisers.

“Mohd Mustafa is appointed by the present senior strategic advisor to the chairman of the PPCC, the undersigned, Navjot Singh Sidhu with immediate effect,†said a statement issued by the Congress Committee of Punjab Pradesh.

“He would act as the PCC coordinator with the AICC on matters relating to his field and on any other matter that the president deems appropriate,” he added.

“I love being associated with Razia Ji and Mustafa sahib,†Sidhu said in a tweet.

Besides Mustafa, Sidhu had appointed three advisers on August 11: Lok Sabha MP Amar Singh, former registrar of the University of Health Sciences Baba Farid of Faridkot, Pyare Lal Garg and former government professor Malvinder Singh Mali.

But Mustafa had refused to make the appointment.

After becoming the head of the PPCC, Sidhu contacted several leaders and visited their residences, including Mustafa’s.

Mustafa and another IPS officer, Siddharth Chattopadhyaya, had challenged the appointment of IPS officer Dinkar Gupta to the post of 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 MP Pargat Singh as the general secretary (organization) of the PPCC.

The cricketer-turned-politician also appointed two media advisers, Jagtar Singh Sidhu and Surinder Dalla on Wednesday. PTI