Following his comments on the Pulwama terror attack, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu has been asked to leave The Kapil Sharma Show and Archana Puran Singh will replace him on the TV comedy show.

According to a source, “His remarks have not been taken kindly by most. Also, the channel and the show were getting dragged into the unwanted controversy. This is when the team amicably decided that Navjot (should) keep a distance from the show. The team has already shot a couple of episodes with Archana.”

Earlier, during a media interaction, Punjab Cabinet minister Sidhu had spoken about the Pulwama attack and said, “Nations cannot be held responsible for the dastardly acts of terrorists. The terrorists do not have deen, mazhab (sect and religion). There are good, the bad and the ugly. Every institution has them. Every nation has them. The ugly need to be punished. But individuals cannot be blamed for the dastardly act.”

While his comments were met with harsh criticism, social media was flooded with posts demanding the former cricketer’s exit from the popular show.

On February 14, 40 CRPF jawans were martyred after a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorist rammed an explosives-laden SUV into a bus carrying CRPF personnel on Srinagar-Jammu highway.

Sony TV has taken a stand over controversies even previously when Anu Malik was named in the “MeToo” campaign. He was sacked overnight as a judge from Indian Idol 10.

Interestingly, in 2017, Archana had previously replaced Sidhu in The Kapil Sharma Show due to his illness.