Punjab Attorney General Atul Nanda on Thursday said there was no conflict of interest between Navjot Singh Sidhu’s office as a state Cabinet minister and his appearance on a television reality show. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who had sought legal advice on the matter, confirmed having received the report and said, “There is no hindrance now to Sidhu’s continuation on TV shows, nor any need to change his portfolio [of Punjab culture minister].”
The news comes as a relief for the cricketer-turned-politician, who had expressed his wish to continue as a celebrity-judge on The Kapil Sharma Show. “What I do after work hours is no one’s business. Sometimes I work all seven days from early morning till 6 pm. So what I do after 6 pm is nobody’s business. It’s not an office of profit,” he had said.
Last week, Sidhu had claimed that that he can multitask and not allow it to hamper his work for the state. He had mooted flying to Mumbai every Saturday to shoot for The Kapil Sharma Show and then flying back to Punjab on Sundays.
However, his wife Navjot Kaur had said he would “give up his TV show” if there was a question of legality. Sidhu took charge as the Punjab minister of tourism, culture and local bodies on March 16.
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