Agencies
CHANDIGARH: Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala, who has been booked many times for openly promoting violence and gun culture through his songs, has joined the Punjab Congress.
Moosewal, whose real name is Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu and who hails from Moosa village in Mansa district, was welcomed into the party by Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu in Chandigarh.
Welcoming the singer, Navjot Sidhu said, “Sidhu Moosewala is joining our family. I welcome him in the Congress fold.”
Chief Minister Channi said Moosewala is a “big artist” who has “won hearts millions of people with his songs.”
After joining the Congress, Moosewala met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. The singer was accompanied by Navjot Sidhu, Punjab transport minister Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and AICC in-charge for Punjab Harish Chaudhary.
Moosewala is likley to be the Congress candidate from Mansa.
Moosewala reportedly came to Canada after competing his degree in electrical engineering.
He came into the limelight with his Punjabi songs So High, Issa Jatt, Tochan and Dollar.
In 2019, he came under fire for his song Jatti Jeone More Wargi, which made references to 18th-century Sikh warrior woman Mai Bhago. Moosewala had to apologize for the song.
He again generated controversy with his song Sanju in which he compared himself to Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt who did three-year jail term for his role in the 1993 Mumbai blasts.
Moosewala was again in the news for wrong reasons last year when a video surfaced of him shooting a song with five policemen at a firing range.
The entry of Moosewala in the Punjab Congress just before the 2022 assembly elections will give boost to the Navjot Sidhu camp against the camp of Chief Minister Charanjit Channi.
The tussle between the two camps is going to increase only as the election date comes closer even though party leader Rahul Gandhi has advised the two groups to work together.
The Congress leadership made Channi the state’s first Dalit chief minister with an eye on the votes of the Dalits who make up about 33 percent of the Punjab population. But the party leadership also want to cash in on the personal popularity of Navjot Sidhu.
There is no secret that Navjot Sidhu wants to be the chief minister. To keep him happy, the Congress has not declared Channi as the party’s chief ministerial face.
But if the party wins the assembly elections due in February, it will be very difficult for the Congress to remove Channi as the chief minister because it will anger the huge Dalit community of Punjab.
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