Sidhu still has everyone guessing in Punjab

Navjot Singh Sidhu has to make up his mind if he needs to remain relevant in politics. His new outfit, Awaaz-e-Punjab, has decided not to contest the 2017 Assembly election. He and his organisation, thus, have to align with a political party to be in circulation. Will it be the Congress, as is being strongly rumoured? Or will the former BJP Member of Parliament back the Aam Aadmi Party, with whom he has had a falling out? One of Sidhu’s associates recently claimed that the AAP had offered him the Deputy Chief Minister’s post in case of victory. But it was stumped when the Awaaz-e-Punjab chief wanted to know the chief ministerial candidate under whom he would have to work. The AAP does not have a face yet. Speculations abound, with one theory even suggesting that Arvind Kejriwal could be the contender. It’s unlikely that Sidhu would have agreed had the AAP named someone like, say, Bhagwant Mann. Sidhu will not face this problem were he to join hands with the Congress. Captain Amarinder Singh is the clear choice of the party. Interestingly, stories have it that he has been offered a deputy chief ministership here too. The Congress has, of course, denied the speculation, claiming that Sidhu is welcome to the party without ‘preconditions’. ‘Without precondition’ is the best way to begin negotiations, but a successful end to such talks only happens when conditions of either side are met.  Sidhu has from the start been saying that he does not hanker for power; his goal is Punjab’s development. But talks with the AAP broke down on precisely the modalities of sharing power, if power came after the election. If he is actively considering the prospect of backing the Congress, either from the outside or by formally joining it, he is unlikely to do as an ‘ordinary worker’. He wants a share in the pie. The façade of ‘not wanting anything for self but everything for Punjab’ has collapsed. His protestations notwithstanding, the reason why he revolted against the BJP was because he was not getting the prime spot in the run-up to the Punjab election. He wanted to be projected as a key leader in the State, but the foul equation he had with the ruling Badal family, with whom the BJP has had a long-standing alliance, prevented that from happening. There was little effort from his end (and perhaps from the Badals as well) to settle the misunderstanding. Sidhu’s decision to walk out of a party that had moulded his political career and made him an MP, including a nominated one from the Rajya Sabha just months before he quit, was cold and calculated. But that’s now the past. What is his political future in Punjab?  For now, he has to settle to being a subordinate, assuming he aligns with the Congress. The same hold true if Sidhu backs the AAP. That being the case, he will really be no better off than he was in the Bharatiya Janata Party. Both the AAP and the Congress will view him as an outsider and an opportunist. This latent feeling will not dissipate even if he and his outfit eventually merge with either of them. In other words, Sidhu will need to constantly reaffirm his loyalty. There will come occasions when the strain becomes difficult to bear any further. What then? Will he seek a return to his parent fold? Meanwhile, the Congress is banking on Sidhu’s decision in its favour, though it does not want to make its desperation evident. The former BJP parliamentarian may not be a political heavyweight but he has some utility. He can draw crowds with his crackling one-liners; he is a cricket-and-television celebrity (a difficult-to-beat combination); he can take sharp jibes at both the BJP and the AAP and regale the audience with his dislike for the two. But the Congress is a divided house in the State. Captain Amarinder Singh has enough problems from within and has to tackle the faction opposed to him. He will need to be certain that Sidhu, if and when he arrives, will be on his side. Nobody knows whether that will happen, given that the anti-Amarinder Singh camp will surely woo the former cricketer as assiduously. Finally, on the presumption that Sidhu casts his lot with the Congress, it will be interestingly to see how he fits into the Congress’s dynasty culture. If he had problems in a far more democratic and worker-centric system the BJP has, can he keep his cool in a party which is a mere extension of the Nehru-Gandhi family’s interests?