Sidhu is sailing in two boats
Friday, 28/10/2016
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=167265&boxid=64705&uid=&dat=2016-10-28
Chandigarh : With the Aap Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress pursuing talks with cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu over his joining either of the two parties, the former BJP MP, who recently floated Awaaz-e-Punjab forum, seems to be sailing in two boats. On Thursday AAP leaders claimed that talks were on with Sidhu. PPCC chief Captain Amarinder Singh has already said that he has no problem in welcoming Sidhu to the party. He even offered Sidhu his Amritsar Lok Sabha seat three days back. Similarly, Manish Tewari, Congress spokesperson and former Ludhiana MP, has also said that it was up to Sidhu to decide where he was going and where he was interested in going.
Terming Sidhu a ‘youth icon,’ former PPCC chief Partap Singh Bajwa has already announced that Sidhu is joining the Congress on the day of Diwali. Amid speculations that Sidhu will join Congress, Punjab BJP president Vijay Sampla on Wednesday said that Sidhu has committed political hara-kiri by leaving BJP. Sidhu, however, is silent on the issue as of now. Though reports of AAP offering Deputy Chief Minister’s post to Sidhu have created ripples in Punjab political sphere, the party’s state convener Gurpreet Singh Waraich (Ghuggi) has negated these reports. This has yet again created suspense, which way Sidhu will go.
Waraich admitted that talks were on with Sidhu, but there were no mention of ‘offer for the Deputy CM’s post.’ He made the statement while replying media queries in a joint conference addressed by AAP’s senior leaders including Sanjay Singh, national spokesperson, Kanwar Sandhu, Punjab Dialogue head, and Himmat Singh Shergill, Legal Cell head, here on Thursday. Sources, meanwhile, disclosed that Sidhu on Wednesday night, had a meeting with Durgesh Pathak, a senior leader of AAP and a confidant of Arvind Kejriwal, at his Delhi residence. In the meeting, Sidhu, sources disclosed, sought Deputy Chief Ministership and some seats to accommodate founder members-hockey Olympian Pargat Singh, Balwinder Singh Bains and Simranjit Singh Bains-independent MLAs from Ludhiana. It is also learnt that Gurpreet Singh Bhatti, a former close associate of Manpreet Singh Badal, the founder of People’s Party of Punjab (PPP), has been mediating the talks between Sidhu and AAP leadership.
