CHANDIGARH: Cricketer-turned-Politician Navjot Singh Sidhu who today finally joined the Congress with just twenty days left for Punjab to go on polls is expected to help the faction ridden party in attracting crowds for it’s rallies and road shows as Sidhu who is youth icon is known for his wit and humor as he will be one of the star campaigner’s of the Congress.
The party high command hopes that with Sidhu on board it will give a moral boost to the party as the party workers have been `suppressed’ by the ruling SAD-BJP alliance and with his spitting venom against the Badals as he has been their bitter critic for last few years, as the coalition is already bogged down with the ten year anti-incumbency to which the Congress party wants to cash-in. Thus their (party workers) vengeance will come out and they will put their best effort for the party which it hopes to convert in votes to form the next government. At present the anti-Badal sentiment has been cashed by AAP as it’s leaders especially Bhagwant Mann has been openly hitting against the father-son duo. Now for last few days Punjab Congress President Capt Amarinder Singh has started hitting out at the Badals, as he has been saying no-body will be spared.
But generally he had been `soft’ on them and this impression has gone down with the public, now which the congress wants to change with bringing in Sidhu. The other advantage the party has that Sidhu has always been the media attraction. But on the other hand it has to be seen whether Sidhu can deliver what the congress hopes from him as his indecisiveness for few months had resulted in a serve dent in his credibility. He had been flip-flopping on which party to join after he resigned from the BJP on September 14, last year as earlier on July 18 he quit from the Rajya Sabha as he was nominated to the upper house in April last year by the saffron party.
Then he was he talks with the AAP and at one time it seemed that he might be their Chief Ministerial candidate but the talks never materialized. He had then floated his political front – Awaaz-e-Punjab, along with former Olympian Pargat Singh and independent MLAs Balwinder Singh Bains and Simarjit Singh Bains from Ludhiana (Bains Brothers). But in November last year the forum broke as the Bains brothers forged an alliance with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as they floated their own party. Then on November 28, last year Pargat and Sidhu’s wife, Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu joined the Congress but the ex-cricketer could not immediately follow suit his wife claiming that he had certain professional commitments. On the other hand Capt Amarinder Singh as presumptive Chief Minister had been touring the state and is leading the party campaign and so is Arvind Kejriwal for his Aam Aadmi Party, both star campaigners for their respective parties.
Now Congress is hoping that as one of the party's star campaigner, Sidhu is likely to address more than 70 rallies and pull the crowds which they expected will convert into votes. Besides a vocal critic of both SAD-BJP, Sidhu is popular among the youth and still attracts them with his humor and party wants to cash upon this factor. But again it has to be seen that as he has been absent from the state for last few months will this work or not. As with more than 50 per cent voters in the state are between 18 to 39 years and AAP has already been able to attract them toward it. Punjab BJP was quick to attack as it termed Sidhu a ‘Kapoot’ (bad son) on his joining the Congress party. State BJP president, Vijay Sampla said, “Sidhu used to call BJP his mother. He betrayed his mother who gave him a political stage, name, fame- everything, made him an MP thrice, and made his wife an MLA and then a CPS. The BJP only gave him, never took anything from him.
Unfortunately, the son turned out to be bad, but the mother remained the same.’’ Not to left behind, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal asked Sidhu to come clean and tell Punjabis why he was trying to befool them into voting for the Congress twenty days before the assembly elections after going missing from Punjab since seven months. Badal said Sidhu had earlier claimed while leaving the BJP that the akalis did not let him enter Punjab. “Now please tell the people what stopped you from entering Punjab and meeting Punjabis after resigning from the Rajya Sabha seven months back? It’s obvious your commercial interests in Mumbai were more important to you than the people of Punjab.
Even now you have waited till the last minute to stake a claim in Punjab politics. What can be termed as bigger opportunism than this?” he said. But still it however not clear that Sidhu would be offered the post of the deputy Chief Minister, if party comes to power in Punjab, as he had earlier demanded.