Chandigarh: With his resignation having been accepted, former Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu is keeping his cards close to his chest. He is, however, expected to remain in the Congress. On Sunday, 21 July, Sidhu shifted out of his ministerial bungalow in Chandigarh, a week after he resigned from the state cabinet.
The cricket-turned-politician known for his gift of the gab had been incommunicado for over a month after Chief Minister Amarinder Singh divested him of the local government ministry and handed him the power portfolio. The chief minister, at odds with Sidhu, had blamed the latter for the Congress’ poor performance in the urban areas of the state during the recent Lok Sabha elections.
The former minister, however, is expected to stay put in the Congress despite invitations pouring in from fringe parties for him to join. There is also talk of him being made the state Congress chief or getting a prominent role at the national level but all this falls in the realm of speculation as Sidhu refuses to confirm anything.
He has been maintaining a studied silence but “it’s the lull before the storm”, said a close political aide. “Sidhu the minister has played out his innings and lost the match,” the aide added. “Sidhu the rebel without the trappings of power can attain heights higher than any conventional minister.”
Politics analysts in the state, however, say Sidhu miscalculated his clout in his feud with the chief minister. “An overconfident miscalculation during the Lok Sabha election campaign has cost him heavily,” says Dr Kanwalpreet Kaur, a Chandigarh-based political analyst. “Sidhu believed that the Congress would replace the BJP at the Centre and his mentor Rahul Gandhi would be in power. Sidhu spoke against his own CM during the election campaign and now he is paying a price for it.”
Rahul Gandhi not only lost his dominance but resigned and the grand old party has been in limbo ever since. “Sidhu drew most of his political backing and independence from the Gandhi family,” adds Kaur.
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Pegged back by Amarinder’s rise
Sidhu has also been sidelined by Amarinder’s rise. With eight out of 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the Congress kitty, and the party bereft of leadership at the national level, the Punjab chief minister has acquired the stature of a formidable regional satrap.
He unhesitatingly accepted Sidhu’s one-line resignation letter submitted to Rahul Gandhi in early June and gladly forwarded it to the Punjab governor for acceptance. The governor too did not waste much time accepting Sidhu’s resignation, and a number of his cabinet colleagues, especially those considered to be close to the chief minister, are happy with his ouster.
He has also been isolated in the Punjab cabinet with even his closest supporters, such the Jalandhar MLA and former Indian hockey captain, Pargat Singh, criticising Sidhu for his impulsiveness and his inability to work as a member of a team.
A majority of the Congress MPs from the state are also backing Amarinder in this feud.
Not only within the Congress, Sidhu stands completely isolated outside his party too. It would be safe to predict that he is likely to continue in this state unless he resumes active and vigorous political life albeit as a simple MLA rather than as a minister.
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Will have to reinvent himself
Sidhu’s potential and ability to reinvent himself, however, cannot be underestimated — he is one of the few Congressmen in the country with an independent mass appeal.
Analysts say his vocal stance against the drug problem in Punjab and his run-ins with the Badals may help him regain his political capital.
“Out of the cabinet, Sidhu has nothing to lose now. The drug problem alone, given its enormity in this state, is sufficient to catapult Sidhu back into the political game,” points out Kaur.
Sidhu has also been displaying unrelenting hostility towards the Badals, in stark contrast to Amarinder who faces criticism from his party for what is seen to be a growing bonhomie with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a certain visible softness towards the Badals.
This could provide Sidhu with another opening to regain his standing in Punjab politics. “His performance in the next session of the Vidhan Sabha would be crucial to his career,” says Kaur.
However, for Sidhu to resurrect his career, says a former cabinet colleague, he must shed his image of being politically ambitious and or aspiring to power. “He should rather remain in the political shadows as it were, shunning power and turning necessity into a virtue,” said the former colleague.
“The moral halo that attaches to nonconformists and rebels in India is rooted in their distancing themselves from power and not displaying or flaunting it,” adds Kaur.
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Rahul Gandhi is mentor for somebody?????