Chandigarh: “One who doesn't throw the dice can never expect to score a six”: Get ready for Navjot Singh Sidhu and his one liners. The cricketer-turned-TV star-turned politician is expected to join the Congress on January 10. He will head to Amritsar - his battle ground for last more than a decade - on January 11 to open a new innings.
Sidhu also has the unique distinction of being the senior most leader in Punjab today who has had more than a close brush with all four political parties slugging it out in Punjab. A BJP member of Parliament; an ally – and later critic – of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal; was on the verge of joining AAP with party functionaries sending out congratulatory tweets; and even floated his own party called Awaa-z-Punjab. But he has finally settled for the Congress. Sidhu would brush all that away with another one-liner: “If heavens throw you dates, you got to keep your mouth open.”
Sidhu has been a BJP Member of Parliament from Amritsar three times. However, a continuing confrontation with the top leadership of the SAD cornered him politically and the BJP eventually sidelined him. The 2014 ticket was denied to Sidhu and given to Arun Jaitley who could not manage to convert the ticket to victory. Jaitley had lost the Lok Sabha seat to Captain Amarinder Singh, the former Punjab Chief Minister, who is the hot favourite for the post of chief minister should Congress win the polls.
Sidhu would have two major responsibilities in the ensuing run up to the elections. He will be campaigning hard for his Amritsar East constituency seat that has earlier been occupied by his doctor-turned-politician wife Navjot Kaur.
Sidhu will also have to traverse the length and breadth of Punjab adding campaigning muscle to the congress. There is no denying the crowd pulling power of the charismatic and witty Sidhu who can turn around the most mundane of political statements into quotable quotes.
Interesting then that only three months ago Navjot Kaur had publicly dismissed reports of Sidhu joining Congress. She had lashed out at party chief Capt Amarinder Singh saying: “Amarinder Singh is as guilty as any other party of not being a defender of Punjab's interests. If you talk of honesty and Amarinder being able to save Punjab, he can't. He has so many allegations against him. He can’t talk of anything unless he clears himself of so many issues he has been linked with. He is not of that moral level that he can lead Punjab. He is not a face that you can trust. He is an MP from Amritsar. He has done no work for Amritsar.”
All through this war-of-words, Sidhu kept strangely quiet. It was widely believed that he has let his wife doing the talking for him. Just before the Amarinder tirade, Navjot Kaur had pointed towards AAP being the party of choice for Sidhu: “Sidhu has no options left but to join the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab.”
Sidhu might write off his wife’s statements using his own quote: “Wickets are like wives. You never know what to expect from them.”
Punjab’s third front AAP has been facing a major leadership crisis in the state. Bhagwant Mann, perhaps AAP’s most visible face, doesn’t cut it as a Chief Minister option in the perception games. Sidhu was perhaps hoping to be projected as the CM face for the party and that never happened despite the much awaited Sidhu appearance in Delhi in August, sporting a bright yellow turban – the preferred color of AAP.
Punjab’s election scene will definitely be fired up with Sidhu’s presence. However, political waters in the state are rough these days. But as Sidhu says, “Anybody can pilot a ship when the sea is calm.”
Will Sidhu pilot his own ship well?
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