A rebel by nature, the cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu is currently on the target of his own Cabinet colleagues in Punjab for his rebellious attitude against the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.
The state Cabinet ministers have described Sidhu’s open attack only against the Chief Minister, but that is against the party as a whole. In unison, they are seeking “strong action” against Sidhu’s indiscipline, while some has asked the former cricketer to quit if he has any problems.
Amidst all this, the state leadership is waiting for the May 23, the day when the results of recently-held general elections would be out, to “think about” action against Sidhu.
The cold war between the two senior Congress leaders touched a new level on Sunday, when the state was going for poll, when Capt Amarinder minced no words to say that the “ambitious” Sidhu might want to replace him as the Chief Minister. At the same time, he had maintained that it was on the high command to act against the Sidhu, while making it clear that the Congress has zero-tolerance policy against indiscipline.
“His ill-timed comments against me and the Punjab Congress leadership have damaged the party...If he is a real Congressmen, he should have chosen a better time to air his grievances instead of just ahead of voting in Punjab. Perhaps he is ambitious and wants to be chief minister,” Capt Amarinder had said on Sunday.
Capt Amarinder’s statement came after Sidhu, while addressing an election rally in Bathinda on May 17, talked about a “friendly match” without naming anyone, while asking the electorate to “punish” the “players” who have 75:25 share.
It is believed that Sidhu, in his speech, hinted at the rumoured pact between Capt Amarinder and SAD president Sukhbir Badal to ensure victory of their wives from Patiala and Bathinda.
However, Sidhu has denied having said anything that suggested a collusion between the Congress and the SAD, while blaming the media for “putting words in my mouth”.
Before that, Sidhu’s wife and former MLA Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu has blamed Capt Amarinder and state party affairs’ in-charge Asha Kumari for playing a negative role in declining her nomination from Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat.
Rubbishing her allegations as “non-sense”, Capt Amarinder had pointed out that he had no role in the decision-making for the Chandigarh ticket, while adding that Dr Navjot was asked to contest from Bathinda or Amritsar, but she refused.
Coming to his wife’s defence, Sidhu maintained that she “would never lie”.
QUIT AS MINISTER IF YOU HAVE PROBLEM: DHARAMSOT
A day after Punjab senior-most cabinet minister Brahm Mohindra said that he along with other colleagues would write to the high command to act against Sidhu, another cabinet Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot on Monday slammed the former cricketer asking him to quit as the Minister “if he has problem with the Chief Minister”.
“Sidhu has come to the Congress after quitting BJP and only god knows where he will go after leaving Congress,” he said while demanding that high command must take action Sidhu. “I would raise this demand in the party meeting,” he said.
Dharamsot said that Sidhu’s remarks came at a time when entire Congress was unitedly fighting to ensure that the party wins all the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab.
“I think his ambitions are very high and he remains dis-satisfied wherever he goes. When he was in the BJP, he was not satisfied there. Today, he may be eyeing chief minister’s post, tomorrow even prime minister’s chair may not satisfy him. So, wherever he goes, he has problems,” he added.
Maintaining that “politics is a serious business” with everyone working with a purpose of bringing about a positive change in people’s lives and uplifting poor and weaker sections, Dharamsot said: “Hankering for posts and berths should not be the aim...Personally, I think Sidhu got more than he deserved.”
Another cabinet Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu said that the party's discipline will have to be followed by everyone. “Political leaders have to show restraint and should not embarrass the party by openly speaking on any issue,” said Ashu.
ACTION AFTER RESULTS
The state Congress leadership would initiate any action, if needed, against Sidhu only after the poll results on May 23.
A senior party leader, who did not wish to be named, said that with everyone busy with the elections and now waiting or the results, any action in the matter would be taken after Thursday. The leader said that report would be sought in the matter from the state leaders and the matter would be resolved accordingly.
At the same time, the leader maintained that no writtem complaint against Sidhu has been received so far.
PLAYING OPPOSITION’S ROLE WHILE IN POWER
While staying in power, the firebrand leader Sidhu has played the role of an opposition.
During the SAD-BJP regime, when he was the BJP MP from Amritsar, Sidhu was at loggerheads with the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, SAD president Sukhbir Badal, and his brother-in-law Bikram Majithia on the issue of development projects in Amritsar.
He openly criticised the Badals for scuttling his projects, so much so that he moved the High Court against the then government.
Joining the Congress just ahead 2017 state assembly polls, Sidhu was again seen on a collision course with the Chief Minister especially on the issues of acting against the Badals in sacrilege and related firing cases, running cable, transports mafias, and against Majithia in the drug cases.