Gurdaspur (Punjab)

Punjab Pradesh Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Saturday reached the integrated check post of the Kartarpur Corridor at Dera Baba Nanak, Gurdaspur to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur in Pakistan.

His visit comes after a fresh tussle erupted in Punjab Congress following the exclusion of Sidhu's name from Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi-led delegation comprising of state cabinet ministers that visited the Kartarpur Sahib on Thursday.

The Kartarpur Corridor, which links Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, the final resting place of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district, reopened on Wednesday.

In a major decision, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government decided to re-open the Kartarpur corridor from November 17.

It was closed in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The visa-free 4.7-kilometre long corridor joins the Indian border to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan.

It became operational in 2019.

Earlier, Imran Khan government of Pakistan praised cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu for his role in the opening of the corridor to Sikh pilgrimage site Kartarpur Sahib between the two countries.

The relationship between Imran Khan and Sidhu came to the limelight in 2018 when the latter attended the oath-taking ceremony of Pakistan PM.