After written assurance from Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu called off his scheduled fast-unto-death on Saturday.

The cricketer-turned-politician has announced on Friday that he would go on a fast-unto-death from today to protest against the stalling of disbursement of development funds for his Amritsar constituency.

The three-time MP said he has been assured by Badal that the Amritsar’s development projects would be completed in a time-bound manner.

“Badal sahab is like a father to me, he has given me written assurance regarding the time-bound completion of the projects and I have decided to call off the programme,” Sidhu said addressing a press conference in Amritsar.

Sidhu said that he welcomed Badal’s written assurance, but at the same time lamented that an elected representative had been forced to resort to a situation where he was left with no option but to think on going on fast-unto-death for the people of his constituency.

Sidhu had said on Friday, “without criticising anybody and without speaking against anybody… I will sit on a fast-unto-death from tomorrow (Saturday).”