No tears for Sidhu; he could never settle down in Cong
Monday, 22/07/2019
https://www.brightpunjabexpress.com/index.php/2019/07/21/no-tears-for-sidhu-he-could-never-settle-down-in-cong/
JULY 21 : Cricketer turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu eventually ended up like a batsman in hurry who, while defying his team captain, in pursuit of being the man of the match, rashly tried to hit every ball right from the beginning without letting himself to settle down at the crease for a big score. With the result he got out without any impressive score and without any tears being shed over his unceremonious exit from the Punjab cabinet. Sidhu is yet to complete three years in the Congress and he started dictating his terms. The party that was more than generous to him by making him a minister while overlooking the claims of several other senior leaders who have given the blood and sweat to it. The former cricketer probably did not realize that even the celebrities have a shelf life. While their celebrity status does accord them a grand entry into public life, for sustaining and surviving in the long run they have to work and toil hard like any other leader. Sidhu joined the Congress when it was already star-studded in Punjab. Despite that he got preference over others much more senior to and competent than him. His only claim to fame was his cricketing career and the comedy shows that he used to participate on television. As an MP also his record was never impressive. He has always aspired to be the Chief Minister right from the day he accepted the BJP’s offer to contest from Amritsar parliamentary constituency in 2004. He was continuously lucky in the elections and in 2009 he narrowly won by a slim margin of about seven thousand votes from Amritsar. In a party like the BJP where the minority faces and that too having a celebrity status are so rare, Sidhu looked forward to a great career. Initially he got very close to the Badals, including the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal. He also enjoyed a good equation with Bikram Singh Majithia. Realising that Sidhu was gaining in political stature, the Badals and Majithia started cutting him to size. Things came to such a passé that Badals managed to convince the party to field Arun Jaitely from Amritsar and deny him the ticket. He was later rehabilitated in 2016 and nominated to the Rajya Sabha. Tipped to be appointed a minister, he was outwitted by Arvind Kejriwal who promised to project him as the Chief Ministerial candidate if he joined his Aam Aadmi Party. Foregoing the ministerial option in the BJP, he even resigned from the Rajya Sabha only to realize that Kejriwal backed out and did not nominate him as the CM candidate of the AAP in Punjab in the election scheduled in 2017. Left high and dry, he had no option but to join the Congress much against the wishes of the then PCC president Capt Amarinder Singh, who went on record saying that he and his wife were a problem for the BJP and they may end up as a problem for the Congress as well. How prophetic! An ambitious Sidhu initially expected himself to be the Deputy Chief Minister, which was rejected by Capt Amarinder, who ensured that in the pecking order also he was not even number two, but next to Brahm Mohindra, who is deemed as number two in the government. Sidhu was also made to take oath after Mohindra, who took oath next to Chief Minister. Sidhu did not connect with the workers, leaders and the legislators of the party. He always tried to play it solo and at the end of the day, he was left alone and lonely, depending too much upon the support of the Congress president Rahul Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Gandhi and the party general secretary Ahmed Patel. The hockey legend and Jalandhar Cantonment MLA, Pargat Singh, the only leader and legislator he was close to, has also distanced himself from Sidhu. He may not be out, but certainly he is down and he has only himself to blame.
