Sidhu; Star campaigner across country, reluctant campaigner in Punjab

Thursday, 09/05/2019

https://www.brightpunjabexpress.com/index.php/2019/05/08/sidhu-star-campaigner-across-country-reluctant-campaigner-in-punjab/

Chandigarh : Cricketer turned Congress politician and Punjab minister, Navjot Singh Sidhu has been in great demand across the country for campaigning. The party had drawn up a hectic campaign plan for Sidhu, which he is still busy with. However, he is not in as much demand in Punjab as elsewhere in the country.

When the Congress general secretary and in-charge for Punjab, Asha Kumari said that there was more demand for Capt Amarinder Singh across the state than Sidhu, he got angry and furious for being dubbed, as “not required” by someone like Ms Kumari.

The Congress general secretary was right. Sidhu has outlived his charm in Punjab. The curiosity and craze that people show for him elsewhere in the country, is missing in Punjab. Probably, this is because Sidhu is more familiar to Punjabis and familiarity does breed monotony. However, that is not to say that he does not have any role or appeal in Punjab, particularly when he targets the Badals in his speeches.

Ms Kumari is seen to be closer to the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh. There is nothing unusual about it. The party in-charge for the state should enjoy cordial relationship with the Chief Minister. Her statement about Capt Amarinder getting preference by the candidates in Punjab over Sidhu, was obviously not liked by the latter. At one stage, Sidhu decided to completely opt out of the campaigning from the state with the clear ultimatum to the state leadership (read the Chief Minister) that ‘sawari apne saamaan ki khud zimedar hai’, hinting that the onus will be on him (the Chief Minster) only.

In another discordant note, when every Congress leader across Punjab was dismissive of Sunny Deol, he took a contrarian view. He said that Deol was a celebrity and was bound to have an impact not only in Gurdaspur but in the neighbouring constituencies as well. Not that Sidhu was wrong about Deol, but it amounted to being politically incorrect and strategically wrong to acknowledge the strength of your rival, which is always avoided in politics.

Sidhu was left sulking a couple of months ago when he was not allowed to speak at a rally in Moga, which was addressed by the party president Rahul Gandhi. He had come prepared with a speech, which he was never allowed to deliver.

However, the party high command has finally decided to use his services in his home state after the voting completes in the sixth phase. Since Punjab goes to the polls in the last phase on May 19, he will still have seven days, to deliver his charisma.

But, whether his vocal chords, which he said have been badly damaged by marathon campaigning, will bear with him in the last leg of the campaigning remains to be seen. Earlier, after campaigning in three states of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, he was advised to give rest to his vocal chords lest these would get permanently damaged. Sidhu can’t afford to damage his vocal chords. After all, his claim to fame in his second avatar as a politician is primarily for the gift of gab he possesses.