Unpredictable in politics as in cricket, Navjot Singh Sidhu’s decision to quit the Rajya Sabha, less than three months after he was surprisingly nominated to the House of Elders, means the BJP’s “grand plan” of limiting the damage in Punjab has come unstuck before the whistle is blown for the elections to the state assembly.
When the BJP named him to the Rajya Sabha in April, it was seen as a masterstroke.
On one level, it was seen as a move to make peace with the four-time parliamentarian who had been overlooked for the Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency in favour of Arun Jaitley (who lost ignominiously despite the Modi wave). And, on another level, it was seen as a bid to pre-empt rumours of Sidhu joining the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ahead of next year’s elections.
The cricketer-turned-commentator-turned-comedian himself said on Twitter: “Beginning of a new inning… Always on the front foot. It’s a mighty six.”
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With his dramatic decision to quit on the first day of the monsoon session, Sidhu has delivered a public snub to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who he claimed had accommodated him in the RS.
The obvious connection everyone is making is the cabinet reshuffle.
Sidhu was hopeful that having been denied the Lok Sabha seat, he would be accommodated in Modi’s council of ministers. In fact, he was quite active and at the forefront in the national executive meet of the BJP last month in Allahabad.
He even issued a statement eulogising the PM.
With a ministerial berth not coming his way, “Sherry” has noisily revealed why he has put in his papers. In an unsigned press note issued following the acceptance of his resignation, he wrote that “all windows to Punjab had been closed for him”.
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Deduction: was he also overlooked as the BJP’s chief ministerial face of the coming elections?
To be sure, Sidhu hasn’t quit the primary membership of the BJP as this is being published. So, in effect, this may be some solid posturing, but speculation is high that he could be the AAP CM candidate, according to sources.
The son of a former advocate-general of Punjab, Sidhu is likely to be AAP’s chief campaigner. The party had needed a Sikh face in the state.
Kanwar Sandhu, the journalist-turned-AAP activist, wrote on Twitter:
News of Sidhu joining AAP had been in the air for well over a year, following the advertised opposition of the cricketer (and his MLA-wife, also called Navjot Sidhu) to the BJP alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal.
With AAP on the upsurge in the border state, the word on the ground is the proud Sardar (who walked out of India’s 1996 tour of England after allegedly being insulted by captain-turned-former Congress MP Mohammad Azharuddin) has got the “timing” right.
BJP sources claim that Sidhu may have used his position as a nominated Rajya Sabha member to strike a better bargain with AAP.
“Wickets are like wives. You never know which way they will turn," goes a famous Sidhuism. For once, the joke is on the BJP.
