A train to Badals’ camp seems to be chugging on a fast track. Two prominent Congress leaders — one sitting MlA and other Punjab’s former Cabinet Minister — on Friday shifted their loyalties towards the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD); while another sitting legislator is in queue.
Already, around 25 senior leaders have hopped on to the political wagon for joining the SAD since it has created history by returning to power for the second consecutive term after 2012 Assembly polls. The latest are party’s three-time Talwandi Sabo MlA from Bathinda district Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu, and former Minister Malkiat Singh Birmi from ludhiana district, who gave up the “hand” to hold the “scale”.
Indications are that former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Amarinder Singh’s lose confidant Arvind Khanna, sitting MlA from Dhuri, too is viewing Badals’ camp as his political destination — enough to be a sign of simmering discontentment within the party. Sidhu, a prominent leader in the Malwa region, once remained a close confidante of Amarinder. He contested as an independent candidate from Talwandi Sabo in 2002 assembly polls, and defeated the then Congress candidate Harminder Singh Jassi by a small margin of 236 votes, following which Amarinder made him join the Congress in 2004.
later, Sidhu successfully contested the Assembly elections in 2007 and 2012 on the Congress ticket from Talwandi Sabo. However, his closeness with the Badals is no secret, as has always acknowledged Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal as his ‘guru’. Upset over the “deal” with former Finance Minister and People’s Party of Punjab’s (PPP) chief Manpreet Badal for Bathinda parliamentary seat, Sidhu decided to part ways with the Congress for “ignoring the party workers”.