Chandigarh: Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu has decided to return to the commentator’s box for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament, a move that rules out his active participation in the Lok Sabha election campaign for the Congress. Star Sports made the official announcement Tuesday morning, which Sidhu reposted on X (formerly Twitter).
A wise man once said, "Hope is the biggest ‘tope’"
And this wise man, the great @sherryontopp himself, has joined our Incredible StarCast! 👏
Don't miss his incredible commentary (and gajab one-liners) in #IPLOnStar – STARTS MAR 22, 6:30 PM onwards, LIVE on Star Sports Network! pic.twitter.com/BjmFq9OKQ4
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) March 19, 2024
Sidhu has made it clear that he will not be contesting the elections. The IPL matches are scheduled to begin on 22 March and will continue till 26 May, which will keep Sidhu busy till almost the end of the general election.
Voting for the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will take place in the seventh phase on 1 June. The Congress is yet to declare any candidate for these 13 seats of which it won 8 in 2019.
Sidhu, the former Punjab Congress chief has the dubious credit of running aground the party in the state, given that his rebellion against former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh had a cascading effect on the party’s fortunes in the 2022 Assembly elections. Amarinder was replaced and quit the Congress, which is among the reasons that led to its decimation in the polls. The AAP swept the state with 92 seats and the Congress was reduced to a mere 18 in the 117-member House.
The upcoming Lok Sabha elections pose a big test for a weakened Congress, which has seen many of its leaders switch loyalty to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Sidhu’s decision to return to cricket commentary is being seen in Congress circles as a virtual snub to the party high command that did not promote him in the Punjab Congress after the electoral debacle. Sidhu, however, still uses his photo with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as his profile picture on X.
He did, however, lock horns with the state unit of the party after he was removed as Punjab PCC chief following the outcome of the 2022 Assembly elections. Sidhu himself lost in Amritsar East.
Starting in May 2022, he served 10 months in Patiala jail after the Supreme Court convicted him of voluntarily causing hurt in a decades-old accident case and sentenced him to one-year of rigorous imprisonment.
Upon his release from jail, supported by a handful of senior leaders, Sidhu expressed open rebellion against the current state Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa.
Punjab Congress puts up united face, but jury still out on Sidhu’s equation with Warring, Channi
Sidhu and his supporters have rarely participated in any programme of the party in Punjab for over a year now.
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While Sidhu maintained a non-cooperative approach with the state unit, he ran parallel programmes and organised rallies as a show of strength. Despite all of this, he maintained a conducive relationship with the party’s national leadership.
Cong leader Navjot Sidhu holds another rally in Bathinda, attacks AAP govt
He supported Delhi when the high command decided to join hands with the ruling AAP for the Lok Sabha polls – which most in the state unit vehemently opposed.
The former cricketer also flaunted his “closeness” to the party high command, seeking an audience with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, each time the state unit criticised him or complained against him.
“Although Sidhu was not made the star campaigner of the party when Assembly elections in four states took place last year, he was expected to campaign across India in the Lok Sabha elections,” said a Punjab Congress leader.
Sidhu will be returning to international cricket commentary after almost a decade. He played for India for nearly 20 years before retiring and joining politics. He joined the BJP in 2004 but switched to the Congress in 2017.
For a brief period, he even toyed with the idea of joining AAP but a mutually acceptable arrangement with Arvind Kejriwal did not materialise.
The 60-year-old is hugely popular for his one-liners and recitation of Urdu couplets. Star Sports while announcing the move wrote on X :
A wise man once said, "Hope is the biggest ‘tope’"
And this wise man, the great @sherryontopp himself, has joined our Incredible StarCast! 👏
Don't miss his incredible commentary (and gajab one-liners) in #IPLOnStar – STARTS MAR 22, 6:30 PM onwards, LIVE on Star Sports Network! pic.twitter.com/BjmFq9OKQ4
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) March 19, 2024
(Edited by Tikli Basu)