The appointment of Navjot Singh Sidhu as head of the Punjab Congress with the authoritative stamp of Congress President Sonia Gandhi did not end his feud with Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh.
The struggle for hegemony in the Punjab Congress ahead of the general election continues. Captain Amarinder Singh expressed his dissatisfaction with the uprising of Navjot Sidhu by first addressing Sonia Gandhi. complained because of their interference in the Punjab Congress, then by skipping lunch with Sidhu, and finally with his camp demanding a public apology from Sidhu for a merger.
At the age of 57 and with the sure support of the Gandhi trio, Navjot Sidhu refused to bow to the 79-year-old Punjab chief minister, India’s oldest CM. Soon after his appointment, Navjot Sidhu embarked on a consolidation offensive that made the political life of Captain Amarinder Singh difficult.
Navjot Sidhu embarked on a series of meetings with party workers and leaders where he presented his Punjab model for next year’s general election to challenge the model of Captain Amarinder Singh for failing to keep the promises made in the 2017 Congress Manifesto.
After contacting party leaders, including about 40 MLAs, in the first two days of his appointment as President of the Punjab Congress, Navjot Sidhu held a meeting with 62 MLAs on Wednesday. Congress currently has 77 MLAs, including Captain Amarinder Singh and Navjot Sidhu, in the 117-member Punjab Assembly.
And he followed up with a post on the microblogging site Twitter, which read: “Wind of Change – of the people, by the people and for the people.” It came with a video that shows Navjot Sidhu getting off a giant Crowd is cheered.
Winds of Change - Of the People By the People For the People | Chandigarh to Amritsar | 20 July 2021 pic.twitter.com/CRBQLqMJk2
— Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) July 21, 2021
Navjot Sidhu led the MLAs to the Golden Temple in Amritsar in a symbolic commitment to the Sikh cause, for which he recently targeted Captain Amarinder Singh for claiming that his government was deliberately slow in the 2015 Fall of Man case.
On the other hand, while Captain Amarinder Singh is getting older, he has refused to intimidate himself following the political aggression of a younger Jat Sikh congressman.
Captain Amarinder Singh opposed the appointment of Navjot Sidhu, head of the Punjab Congress, said the party’s two top positions should not be awarded to Jat Sikhs. But Navjot Sidhu managed to convince the Gandhis that he was the best choice given the circumstances.
Captain Amarinder Singh’s camp later said the prime minister was ready for rapprochement if Navjot Sidhu apologized to him in public for his outbursts and in the party’s interest in the run-up to the Punjab parliamentary elections in 2022.
However, Navjot Sidhu’s camp dropped clear indications that the cricketer-turned-politician would not apologize to the former captain of the Indian army. Now Navjot Singh Sidhu seems to be taking on Captain Amarinder Singh, not only because of sacrilege, but also on the issues of farmers, electricity and development.
With the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) opposition looking relatively “weak” in Punjab, Navjot Sidhu could emerge as the main challenger to Captain Amarinder Singh in gathering polls in just over six months .
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