Navjot Sidhu return his old self pitch |Congress worries
The Congress party was being steadied by Punjab leader Raja Warring and LoP Partap Bajwa, who had managed to lessen conflict, but now the former Amritsar MP’s solo events are upending the party.
Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu is once again in the spotlight as the Lok Sabha elections draw near, continuing a trend in which he portrays himself as “a lone warrior fighting for the interests of the state.”
By doing this, the cricketer-turned-politician Sidhu has once again become the Congress’s enduring issue, especially with regard to the state unit, which has a long history of factionalism and had only recently begun to take on the appearance of a well-organized house thanks to the combined efforts of state chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa.
This time, Sidhu has incited unrest by organizing concurrent activities and disobeying the demands of the top brass.
Sidhu was perceived as demonstrating his personal might even as Devender Yadav, the recently appointed Congress in-charge of Punjab, met with leaders and cadre. With one exception, the former MP didn’t attend any of Yadav’s meetings. He even organized a roadshow in Hoshiarpur while Yadav presided over one of them.
The rank and file of the Congress is furious with Sidhu’s actions, even if he has clarified that Yadav was aware about his absence because his rallies were scheduled ahead of time.
Sidhu has a track record of betraying party members. He attacked Bikram Singh Majithia, the head of the Akali Dal, when he was a member of the BJP. He deposed Amarinder Singh as chief minister after joining the Congress and then got into a heated argument with Amarinder’s replacement, Charanjit Singh Channi. If he was unhappy, why did he not quit Amarinder’s government? Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, a strong contender to succeed Amarinder, was another person with whom he had problems.
Moreover, Sidhu did not agree with former State Congress chief Sunil Jakhar and is currently attempting to undermine Warring. Under condition of anonymity, a Congress leader told The Indian Express, “He just wants to be at the center of attention.”
The leader continued by saying that state Congress leaders do not put up with Sidhu’s capricious demeanor. He remarked, “He has the backing of no significant leaders in the state and only a small number of exhausted forces.”
The cricketer-turned-politician made a statement on Monday by missing a gathering hosted by Yadav in Amritsar, the seat he had three times as a BJP MP in the Lok Sabha.
Yadav attempted to minimize the conflict by saying, “I see no differences.” Everyone is in favor of fortifying the Congress. But regardless of the leader’s rank, Yadav continued, action would be taken against any act of indiscipline.
Bajwa and Warring have not been as cooperative. Though the head of the state Congress has threatened to dismiss anyone who used indiscipline from the party, Bajwa has stated that separate akhare (parallel shows) should not be held. The Leader of the Opposition recently stated that fingers must be severed early to stop gangrene from spreading, seemingly a reference to Sidhu.
Despite the concerns of the state unit, the former MP from Amritsar is thought to have the support of the upper echelon, especially the Gandhi siblings Rahul and Priyanka. Not surprisingly, the high command announced his inclusion on the state unit’s 27-member election panel.
But Sidhu’s followers have been facing harsh punishment from the state authority. Former MLA Maheshinder Singh and his son Dharampal Singh, who organized his most recent rally in Moga, have since been suspended from the party’s primary membership for a period of six years “for not keeping the state leadership or district unit of the party in the loop” regarding the event.
The former power minister, Sidhu, made his public debut on November 9 when he was part of the first all-party delegation of 500 pilgrims from India to reach Pakistan’s Kartarpur to pay obeisance at the shrine of Sikhism’s founder, Guru Nanak Dev, following the opening of the historic corridor between the two countries. Sidhu had resigned from the state cabinet on July 15, 2019.
Maheshinder has questioned why the Congress had not written notice to Sidhu and former state Congress chief Laal Singh, who were also present at the gathering, but only to him and his son. Maheshinder accused Warring of having a “personal issue” with him. “Therefore, neither I fell, nor the minaret of my hopes, mujhe giraane ki koshish mein har shaks baar baar gira.” Instead, individuals have fallen in an attempt to bring me down),” Maheshinder wrote on X on Sunday.
Randhawa, Sidhu’s dark horse, retaliated against X. “Neither the Congress nor us fell, but the one who has led to the Congress’s downfall has himself fallen, time and again,” he said in a Hindi post. “Na ham gire, na Congress ka minaar gira, par Congress party ko girane wala har baar anekon baar gira.”
