NEW DELHI: Having risen through the political ladder at BJP, commencing his own party Awaaz-e-Punjab and then carrying extensive negotiations with the Aam Aadmi Party, cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu today said he was a "born Congressman" who was coming back to his roots.
Sidhu indicated his father Bhagwant Singh Sidhu was a freedom fighter and was in the Congress for 40 long years and, therefore, he has come back to his roots.
When asked whether he would like to be the Chief Ministerial candidate for his party at the press conference today, the ex-cricketer dodged the question in his classy humourous style. "Gehun khet mein aur beta pet mein aur aap byah ki baat kar rahe ho,(it is premature to talk about the issue)," the former BJP man exclaimed.
He even went on to the extent of saying he was ready to work under anybody appointed by the Congress high command and would contest from anywhere the party wants him to fight from.
Congress has not declared a chief ministerial candidate and is contesting the polls under the leadership of its state president Amarinder Singh.
Sidhu clarified he had no differences with PCC Chief Amarinder Singh and said when two nations can sort their problems out by sitting across the table, why cannot two individuals do the same.
"If Lalu and Nitish can come together why can't I and Amarinder join hands," he elaborated.
It is noteworthy that Sidhu first came into poilitics via a BJP ticket. After being with the party for a number of years, he resigned and announced his own party Awaaz-e-Punjab.
When that did not work out, he initiated extensive talks with the Aam Aadmi Party which eventually did not materialise.
Union Minister and SAD's Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal said Sidhu bargained with BJP, AAP and Congress for a "better deal". "He is least concerned about people and only wants to serve his selfish interests. Such people enter politics for this purpose only," she said and alleged the cricketer-turned-politician had defamed the Punjabis on drug issue.
Sidhu has dismissed allegations that he had taken time to join the Congress as he was busy in hard bargaining and that he had done likewise with the AAP earlier.
Without taking name of any BJP leader, he suggested that the machinations of "Manthra" (a maid in the epic Ramayana who convinces Queen Kaikeyi that the throne of Ayodhya was for her son Bharat) made him leave Amritsar which he represented in Lok Sabha for four terms.
Interestingly, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, instead of Sidhu, had contested the Amritsar constituency in the 2014 elections from the BJP side.
Sidhu’s critics were also having a field day ever since he announced his decision to join Congress. A sharply critical Badal said Sidhu "ditched" the very party which gave him respect.
"The person who has left his mother party (BJP), one which gave him respect, handheld him... what can be worse than this, he ditched the very party," he told reporters in his home constituency of Lambi.