By a correspondent
CHANDIGARH: As the February assembly elections draw near in Punjab, state Congress chief Navjot Sidhu is getting increasingly caught up in a web of his own ambitions. He thinks he is the smartest and most capable guy in the Punjab Congress party and thus should be the state’s chief minister.
As the state Congress chief, he got his revenge in getting Capt Amarinder Singh ousted as the Punjab chief minister earlier in 2021. When the central leadership of the party wanted either Sunil Jakhar (a Hindu) and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa (a Jat Sikh) to become the new chief minister, Sidhu opposed this choice.
Why? Because being heavyweights, Jakhar or Randhawa would have stayed on in that position if the party wins the February elections.
Sidhu’s stance forced the party leadership to declare lightweight Charanjit Singh Channi – a Dalit Sikh –as the chief minister.
Now Sidhu wants himself to be declared as the chief ministerial face of the party before assembly elections in February.
But the central leadership cannot do that because it doesn’t want to lose Dalit votes – about a third of all votes in the state. The party also wants to use Sidhu’s popularity to win votes.
On Thursday, the party sent Punjab transport minister Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and Fatehgarh Sahib MP Amar Singh to persuade Sidhu. But they didn’t succeed.
Sidhu reportedly told them that he won’t campaign for the party if he is not projected as the next chief minister.
Sidhu’s daily outbursts against his own party have angered many ministers.
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa has called Sidhu an “egoist who was full of I, me, myself.”
Punjab technical education minister Rana Gurjit Singh last week called Sidhu a “political mercenary,” who joined the party only to become chief minister.
The minister told Sidhu, “You are just like a mercenary having joined the party just with the sole purpose of becoming the chief minister, while I have been in the party right from my birth.
“But sooner you leave, the better it will be for the party as you have divided and damaged the party from within as if you were pursuing some hidden agenda of your real political masters who are still pulling your strings.”
On Friday, food and supplies minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu also blasted Sidhu for pursuing his “individualistic agends.”
He said Sidhu should leave the party if he was so upset with the leadership.
Ashu told a newspaper, “He (Sidhu) is creating confusion by taking digs at the government. He thinks he is the only honest person and everyone else is a thief. We cannot go and fight the upcoming elections in this atmosphere.
“Parties are run on some principles and ideology. He (Sidhu) is not the only one in the party. There is a Congress model and ideology. It does not follow the “Sidhu model” or any other propagated by an individual. If someone has an opinion, he should discuss it within the party before going public. The party has the agenda and track record, but needs to put a united face.”
Another minister Tript Rajinder Bajwa is also upset with Sidhu.
