Retired hurt from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but not out of politics, cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu’s innings in Punjab was not without its share of criticism.
In fact, the commentators more often than not blamed him for not padding up for the State. His last inning, rather, saw “missing Sidhu” posters coming up in Amritsar for staying away from the field too long.
That is not all! He was also adjudged as “worst performer” for utilising the MP local area development (MP-lAD) funds.
Breaking his week-long silence after his resignation googly, Sidhu harped on just one thing: Punjab. He maintained a strategic silence on vital questions concerning his next political step - leaving BJP or joining Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), but said enough to send across a message ‘to whom it may concern’.
Speculations are rife that Sidhu will soon be a part of AAP, and finally announce his departure from the saffron brigade. But, the former cricketer is waiting for the ball to hit at the right time.
Sources informed The Pioneer that Sidhu is in negotiation with the AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal which, as of now, has reached a dead-end. Sidhu has been claiming stronghold at nearly 40 seats in the State, currently represented by the Congress, to join AAP on his own terms.
It has been learnt that Sidhu wanted to run the show in Punjab as of “one-man”, but with Kejriwal, the spot has already been taken. Moreover, there was lot of resentment within senior party leaders on Sidhu’s induction, who consider him as a “threat” to their political career.
Just like his cricketing days, Sidhu is waiting for the right time to hit the ball. Playing the game of patience, Sidhu has given strong signals what exactly he wanted by means of his first public appearance after putting in his papers as Rajya Sabha MP on July 18.
Sidhu, in his Monday’s much-awaited Press briefing, made it clear that he wanted to stay in Punjab, and work for Punjab. He went on to blame the BJP for “keeping him away from Punjab”.
The question now arises what Sidhu did when he was Member of Parliament from Amritsar from 2004 to 2014.
Sidhu first became MP in 2004 on BJP ticket from Amritsar, following which he again won by-election necessitated after his resigning due to a court case against him. In 2009 general elections, he again defeated Congress’ OP Soni by a frivolous margin of 6,858 votes.
Sidhu was asked to make way for BJP stalwart Arun Jaitley, who he considered his political guru, in 2014 polls. On April 28this year, he took oath as Rajya Sabha member but resigned just after three months.
A look at his career as three-time Parliamentarian revealed that Sidhu had raised several significant issues concerning Punjab in the lok Sabha. These include direct rail linkage between Amritsar and Ferozepur, luxury tourist trains, Amritsar airport, UGC grants to universities, special development package for Amritsar, exploitation of ground water, refinery at Bhatinda, treatment of cancer, issues related to the borders, among others.
But interestingly, the number of questions, related to the State, was much less as compared to the total issues he raised in his tenure.
Sidhu was MP in the fourteenth and fifteenth lok Sabha, that is from 2004 and 2014. During his two year term, Sidhu raised total 234 questions, including starred and unstarred, during his first term (from 2004 to 2009), out of which less than 50 are concerned with the State. During his second tenure, from 2009-2014, out of total 99 questions he raised in the House, just about 15 were concerned with the State.
A glance through his questions, as per the lok Sabha website, shows that the three-time MP’s focus was more on national than State-related issues. Some of the questions included outstanding dues of MTNl/BSNl, killing of tigers or wild cats, bilateral trade with Nepal, setting up of major port at Andaman Nicobar islands, among many others.
The flamboyant Sidhu has also scored least in the utilisation of MPlAD funds in comparison to other lok Sabha MPs from Punjab. Worst amongst all, Sidhu used just about Rs 9.45 crore of the sanctioned amount of Rs 19 crore during the 15th lok Sabha.
At the fag end of his second term as MP, Sidhu made attempts to blame the ruling SAD-BJP combine for spoiling the pitch of development. He openly attacked his own Government throwing hurdles in his way resulting in non-completion of the development works initiated by him.
If that is not enough! The ‘Missing Sidhu’ posters also dotted the walls of Amritsar, besides announcement of Rs 2 lakh reward money by a local NGO for anyone who provided information on the missing MP in August 2013, after he remained absent from his constituency for almost a year.
The posters pointed out at how Sidhu cheated his voters, claiming that Sidhu never bothered to look into their issues as promised after he was elected as MP, while laughing out loud on the comedy shows.
Moreover, Sidhu’s claims of BJP keeping him away from the Punjab falls flat as the former cricketer was only last month inducted in the party’s all-powerful core group. In its first meeting, Sidhu opted to stay away.