The Congress High Command has yielded before Navjot Singh Sidhu’s antics and allowed him to take over the Punjab unit of the party which he joined just four years back after crossing over from the BJP.
While motormouth Sidhu’s utterances and inimitable style have endeared him to a section of the masses, his ability to carry the rank and file and chart a common course with other heavyweights in the party was always in doubt.
Now, he and Captain Amarinder Singh will be the face of the Congress in the Assembly election next year. The party wanted to avoid a situation where the two sardars are seen to be heading both the party and the government; such a situation would be conducive to the Hindu vote migrating to the Aam Aadmi Party, if the not the BJP, it is feared.
Nine out of the 11 Punjab Congress MPs met at the residence of Partap Singh Bajwa on Sunday and discussed the current political situation in the state. Bajwa, a Khatri by caste and yet another power centre within the party, added that he was not in the race for any position in the party.
Amid reports of Sidhu’s elevation, ten Congress MLAs came out in support of Amarinder Singh on Sunday and urged the party high command not to let down the Punjab chief minister as he remains the tallest leader among the masses and the state. "Do not let down Captain Amarinder Singh, due to whose unrelenting efforts the party stands well entrenched in Punjab. There is no doubt that the appointment of state PPCC chief was the prerogative of the party high command, but at the same time, washing dirty linen in public has only decreased the party graph during the last couple of months," the leaders said in an official statement.
Sidhu has been engaged in a running feud with Amarinder Singh and has repeatedly attacked him over the alleged delay in dispensing justice in the 2015 holy book desecration cases. Amarinder, too, had written a letter to Sonia Gandhi earlier, saying the party would be ‘split’ in the state if Sidhu was given the plum post.
Four working presidents have also been appointed alongside Sidhu, namely: Sangat Singh Gilzian, Sukhwinder Singh Danny, Pawan Goel, and Kujit Singh Nagra. Danny, a Dalit Sikh, is Rahul Gandhi’s choice. While Sangat Singh is an OBC, Goel is a Hindu and Nagra is a Jat Sikh.
