On Monday, Navjot Singh Sidhu delivered a googly and resigned from Parliament. Just a few months ago, the BJP nominated Sidhu to the Rajya Sabha member. Nobody knows which way his politics may turn now. But there is growing speculation that he would now join the AAP for the candidate of Punjab’s chief minister.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had indicated early that his party would put somebody from the community on the forefront of the party’s campaign in the state Punjab.
Earlier, Navjot Singh Sidhu had mysteriously agreed to the BJP’s Rajya Sabha offer. It was widely envisioned that Sidhu was in talks with Aam Aadmi Party as its presumptive CM candidate in Punjab. But the deal could not be worked out because of internal differences in the AAP. Several ambitious leaders and factions of Aam Aadmi Party were vying for the CM Candidate.
There is another problem for Kejriwal in Punjab: Lack of a eminent Sikh who can impresses rural voters and traps them away from the Akalis who dominate the panthic discourse in the state.
Kejriwal is wary also of the presence of Captain Singh. The Congress leader is currently on a massive outreach programme in the state in a last-gasp effort to pitch himself as the face of the anti-incumbency vote against the SAD-BJP combine in the state. The Aam Aadmi Party needs a eminent and local heavyweight to counter the Patiala royal.
For the past few months, Sidhu had become angry because of the BJP’s reluctance to consider his demand for cracking the alliance with Akalis. Navjot Singh Sidhu had refused to campaign for the BJP party in Punjab till it divorces the Badals.
He also indicated that his wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu who is a BJP MLA in Punjab, would not contest the next Assembly elections in Punjab. This led to a lot of embarrassment within the BJP.
Navjot Singh Sidhu is now likely to turn up in the Aam Aadmi Party team. Sidhu may sweep his former friends out of Punjab with a broom in the assembly election of Punjab.
