Controversy swirled around Punjab Congress Pradesh Committee chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday, when his US-based sister, Suman Toor alleged that the former cricketer had abandoned their mother after the death of their father in 1986.
Talking to reporters here on Friday, Suman Toor said that her mother died a destitute at the Delhi railway station in 1989.
Narrating their ordeal, Suman alleged that her brother Sidhu had left their old mother in 1986 after the death of their father and had told her that there was nothing for her here.
“She worked hard to raise us, me and my sister. She used to take both of us to school on a bicycle. Neither my mother nor us sisters asked him (Sidhu) for any help when he abandoned us,” a teary-eyed Suman Toor said.
She alleged that in 1987, Sidhu spoke to a media publication and gave a false statement that their mother and father had got legally separated when he was two years old.
She then showed a black and white photograph to claim that Sidhu was not 2 years old at the time. “My mother met him in Ludhiana to ask why he was lying. He said that he had not made the statement and that somebody else had made the claim. My mother then filed a case against the publication which had published the comment, but he never supported her despite saying he would,” Suman rued.
She added that in September 1989, while returning from the court, her mother died like a destitute woman at the Delhi railway station.
Suman alleged that since
Sidhu was enjoying his life and did not want to part with the money he had, he had lied about their parents’ separation.
Later in the evening, some pictures of Sidhu and Suman Toor got shared in media WhatsApp groups, which show that Suman Toor was in good relations with Sidhu until 2018.
When The Daily Guardian spoke to Alka Lamba, media coordinator for Punjab Congress, she said: “According to the pictures shared by her with the media, it seems that she had good relations with Navjot Singh Sidhu in 2018. Then how come she recalls her mother’s ordeal just before the Assembly elections? It’s sad to see politics stooping to this level that someone’s family matters are made public. Suman Toor does not know that she has become a political tool to demean Sidhuji.”
Sidhu’s wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu said: “I don’t know her. Sidhu’s father had two daughters with his first wife. I don’t know them.”
