Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu is weighing all his options carefully. Taking his own time to decide upon his next political course, Sidhu is holding parallel talks with the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party.
Even as the Congress party is making an all-out effort to woo the former BJP MP with variety of offers, AAP is also enticing the former cricketer by reportedly offering the post of Deputy Chief Minister.
At the time when the reports of his deal “almost” finalising with the Congress party is doing the rounds, Sidhu’s meeting with AAP’s Punjab in-charge Sanjay Singh on Thursday has left everyone guessing about his final decision.
The meeting came after senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa gave enough indications that the three-time MP from Amritsar may hold the “hand” on the “auspicious day of Diwali”.
Confirming the meeting, Sanjay Singh said that the talks between former BJP MP and AAP are still ongoing.
“Talks are going on with Sidhu. There is no denying this. Talks have been underway
for the past four-five days,” Singh said. Sources said that Sidhu held a meeting with AAP’s co-in-charge and Delhi Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s confidante Durgesh Pathak on late Wednesday night at New Delhi.
Former BJP parliamentarian was pushing for the position of Deputy Chief Minister, a demand the party is reluctant to give in to, sources said.
Sidhu’s demands for seven-eight seats of 117 seats — for hockey Olympian Pargat Singh and two independent legislators, Balwinder Singh Bains and Simarjit Singh Bains, among others — also remains under negotiations, they said.
Sources also indicated that a section in the party favoured an alliance with Sidhu’s outfit Aawaz-e-Punjab rather than having the former BJP parliamentarian join the party.
“An alliance with Sidhu’s Awaaz-e-Punjab will boost party’s prospects but giving him deputy CM’s post will not go well with the party cadre,” they said, claiming that an alliance will help strike balance between the demands of the two sides.
They indicated that the party was not keen on giving him the Deputy Chief Minister’s post but it was ready to induct his wife into the cabinet if AAP won.
“Our party constitution states that we cannot give seats to two people from one family. Since the Bains brothers are sitting MlAs, they would want tickets, a demand which we would not be able to fulfill.” the leader added.
Sidhu had last month floated his ‘Awaaz-e-Punjab’ forum in what many had then thought was the outcome of Sidhu’s talks with AAP having “failed” at that time.
After the development, Kejriwal had said that his respect for Sidhu will continue regardless of whether “he joined (AAP) or not”, indicating that the party had not shut its doors on him.
However, Sidhu had later criticised Kejriwal and dubbed AAP as “anarchy in the garb of democracy”, saying the AAP chief wanted only “yes men”.
In a clear indication that talks with the former BJP MP leader were progressing, Singh said that not too much should be read into Sidhu’s utterances, asserting that the two sides were engaged in talks for a bigger cause, which was how to “save Punjab”.
“A long time has passed (since Sidhu made these remarks), if we get involved in small things, then Punjab’s interests will take a backseat. What he has said in his speech or in his statement, that is not the issue, that is not important,” he said.
He added that the “issue is how to save Punjab, how to save the state from corruption, from drug menace, how we will restore the lost glory of our farmers. We are thinking about this and we have to think about these issues”.
Asked if AAP has offered Sidhu the post of the Deputy Chief Minister in case the party wins next year’s Punjab polls, Singh said: “At this stage, the only thing I can say is that talks are going on.”
On whether Sidhu and other members of his forum will join AAP or will there be any alliance with his forum, Singh said, “The whole formula will be put before you. What will happen and how it will happen, all this you will come to know but wait for some time.”
This comes as the Congress recently said that it had no objections to Sidhu joining the outfit “unconditionally”.