Stocking dissidence against Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, former Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Tuesday emerged resolute after placing his standpoint for almost two hours before the three-member panel constituted to resolve the differences in the party’s State leadership.
Sidhu asserted that he has apprised the panel of the “truth” and conveyed the “voice of the people of Punjab and the grassroots” to the high command, while declaring that his “stand remains unchanged”.
“The most important issue is that my previous stand on Punjab and issues concerning Punjab remains unchanged,” said Sidhu after meeting the committee, comprising Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, State party affairs in-charge Harish Rawat, and former MP JP Agarwal.
The panel, which is scheduled to meet Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday, gave Sidhu two long hours to listen to his stand, besides finding out the ways to “respectably” and “satisfactorily” rehabilitate him.
Sidhu, in his characteristic style, declared that Punjab will win. “Jittega Punjab…Punjab ko jitaana hai (We have to ensure Punjab’s victory)…Every Punjabi should be made hissedaar (stakeholder) and bhaagidaar (shareholder) and we have to defeat all anti-Punjab forces…Punjab, Punjabiyat and each Punjabi will win,” he said before passing by all media queries about the meeting.
It has been learnt that the panel has categorically asked Sidhu about his demands, but it was unclear what the former cricketer has said. Notably, Sidhu has all along been refusing ministerial berth and claiming that he was not after the posts, but wanted to be in a position where he can take decisions.
As per reports, the high command is mulling to appoint two deputies to the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, of which one would be Sidhu.
sSidhu has been at loggerheads with Amarinder Singh and has publicly attacked him over an SIT report on the sacrilege issue in the State. In fact, Sidhu is apparently the main cause that has compelled the Congress high command to intervene in resolving the prevailing crisis in the Punjab party unit that has virtually divided into two power centres - one supporting the Chief Minister and another dead against him.
The cricketer-turned-politician resigned from the State Cabinet in July 2019 after being divested of the local bodies’ portfolio after the Chief Minister blamed him for the party’s not-so-good performance in urban areas during Lok Sabha polls. Subsequently, he went into political hibernation, only to return more than a year after to support the farmers’ agitation against Centre’s farm laws in late 2020.
Even as the high command infused abundant efforts to bridge the gulf between the two leaders by bringing them together on one stage to sharing the cup of tea, all efforts have proved futile till now.
It was only after the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s adverse order in Kotkapura firing case that Sidhu openly started attacking the Chief Minister for “deliberately delaying” and “denying” justice in the sacrilege cases, and punishing the guilty. Soon, the same view was shared by several other senior leaders, including Cabinet Ministers, parliamentarians, and legislators, with several questioning the Chief Minister’s leadership.
