Four months after he returned to the pavilion, it is still not clear whether BJP’s former parliamentarian Navjot Singh Sidhu would bat for the Congress party. Friday was expected to clear the air on Sidhu and Congress allinace with two vital meetings — between Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh and party’s national vice-president Rahul Gandhi, and another of Sidhu-led Awaaz-e-Punjab, line up. But, the status-quo continues.
Awaaz-e-Punjab, after its meeting, decided to extend the deadline by another week to announce its next political decision. The new front, at the same time, maintained that its negotiations with the Congress and also with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are going on and “in the final stages”.
Capt Amarinder, on the other hand, maintained that “Sidhu” did not come up for discussion during his meeting with Rahul Gandhi. Meanwhile, senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa appealed the party high command to take former cricketer on board in the fight against the “tyrannical” Akali-BJP rule.
Capt Amarinder and state Congress affairs’ in-charge Asha Kumari, a day before, had maintained that the party was not in talks with the Awaaz-e-Punjab; while the new front’s members had maintained that the talks were on with the “high command”.
Downplaying the reports suggesting that the Congress has offered the Deputy Chief Minister’s post to Sidhu, Capt Amarinder said that anybody interested in accepting the policies and programmes of the grand old party are welcome in the fold.
After meeting Rahul Gandhi in the national capital, the former chief minister said that there was no discussion on the cricketer-turned politician.
“No. There was no discussion on Navjot Sidhu. Anybody interested in accepting the policies and programmes of the Congress is welcome to join us,” he said.
However, sources maintained that the pros and cons of Sidhu joining the party were also discussed during the discussion, but no decision was taken on his future with the Congress.
DECISION BEFORE DIWAlI
Awaaz-e-Punjab had once again bought time from the people of the state to take a call on its next political decision. The “forum”, after its meeting on Friday, maintained that it would announce its final political decision next week.
The marathon meeting, held at New Delhi, was attended by all members — Sidhu, his wife Dr Navjot Kaur, Olympian Pargat Singh, Balwinder Bains and Simarjeet Bains (Bains Brothers).
Sources maintained that the present political situation of Punjab was discussed in a threadbare manner during the meetings.
Maintaining that the Awaaz-e-Punjab’s talks with Congress and AAP are still on and in the final stages, Pargat Singh said: “Sidhu has told us to wait for three to four days and he will inform about the outcome of political talks.”
BAJWA BACKS SIDHU’S FRONT
Maintaining that he was not aware whether Congress and Awaaz-e-Punjab are engaged in talks or not, Bajwa stressed that if that is the case, the party must open communication channel with the Sidhu-led front, so as not to let the anti-Badal votes get divided in the upcoming Punjab polls.