CHANDIGARH: It is Guru versus Chella in a keenly watched election; as cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, who is contesting the assembly elections for the first time from Amritsar (East) constituency is pitched against Rajesh Kumar Honey of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The 53-year old Sidhu had brought Rajesh Kumar Honey into politics a few years ago when he was in the BJP but is now contesting against him. As Sidhu is a star campaigner of the Congress he is touring and campaigning for the other candidates, while his wife Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu who is sitting MLA from this constituency after she vacated her seat for her husband is holding fort and campaigning for him in his absence. The former three-time Amritsar MP says that he is not bothered about gains or losses in this battle as the lone target is to rid Punjab of the Badals, ‘Badal-Mukt Punjab’. Sidhu claims that he is on a mission to save Punjab from the Badals who have “looted” the state.
A bitter critic of the ruling Badal clan, the Sidhu couple have opposed them since they were in the BJP, before they switched their loyalties and joined the Congress. Sidhu is enthralling people with his one-liners, like “Bhaag, Badal Bhaag, kursi khali kar (run Badal, run. Leave the chair)” . This could be a cake walk for Sidhu from here, with the work done by his wife in the area which has 1.52 lakh voters with 153 polling stations. When Sidhu was the MP from Amritsar, his stronghold was this constituency.
Honey is a greenhorn as he is president of district unit of BJP and a councillor of the party. Honey first won municipal corporation election in 2007 and again in 2012. Honey takes his ‘Guru’ head on as he says that Sidhu has no time for Amritsar and once the polls end on Feb 5, he will return to Mumbai.