Star campaigner Sidhu gets royal ignore in home state
Tuesday, 14/05/2019
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CHANDIGARH : In a development that smells more of politics than irony, Congress star campaigner, Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu is all set to give his home state a miss. The cricketer-turned politician, who is headed next to Bihar on Tuesday for addressing a rally for Bollywood celebrity Shatrughan Sinha, said on Monday that he would continue to campaign for the last phase of polling on May 19 despite being advised rest by his doctors.
A statement released by his office said: “The Punjab minister has addressed 80 rallies (including press conferences) in 28 days. Continuous speech has severely impacted his vocal cords to the extent that they have bled at times. He will resume campaigning from May 14.”
It added that in the remaining four days, the minister will be addressing public meetings in neighbouring Himachal on May 15, and in Madhya Pradesh on May 16 and 17. Recuperating in Chandigarh since Saturday, Sidhu left for New Delhi on Monday for his treatment.
On not addressing a single rally in Punjab, Sidhu said his 32-day campaign till May 19 has been decided by office of senior leader Ahmed Patel on requests from state units of the Congress. “I am not aware if Punjab unit of Congress sought my dates. But I have not received any call from CM Amarinder Singh, state party chief Sunil Jakhar or general secretary in-charge of Punjab Asha Kumari. I was called by Punjab finance minister to Bathinda where my wife went, and also by Sangrur candidate Kewal Dhillon. But I am going where the party is asking me to,” he said.
The standoff between Sidhu and state top brass dates back to Rahul’s Moga rally on March 7 when he was not allowed to speak, presumably over his taking a contrary stand to Amarinder on Balakot airstrikes. The minister had gone incommunicado for three weeks before going on a campaign blitz in high-profile seats, including that of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. Last month, Sidhu had opposed CM’s “perform or perish” diktat to ministers and MLAs saying it is “captain of the ship who takes the bouquets and brickbats”. More recently, Asha ruffled his feathers again by commenting that she is getting requests from all 13 party candidates for star campaigners and it is Amarinder who is in demand, not Sidhu.
Agreeing that sharp division in the party ahead of May 19 polls may send out wrong signals, Jakhar said the situation was avoidable. “There is demand for Sidhu in my seat Gurdaspur. He had campaigned extensively for me during the bypoll. I had called up Sidhu a few days back but he did not attend the call. My personal assistant too left messages with his aides. I had invited his wife, Navjot Kaur, too to join me at the Harmandar Sahib in Amritsar before I came to Gurdaspur for filing the nomination papers. But she didn’t turn up. We invited her again to Gurdaspur but she didn’t show up,” he said.
Jakhar had stood by Sidhu when Akalis and BJP were gunning for the minister after his controversial hug to Pakistan army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and rail tragedy in Sidhu’s seat in Amritsar where his wife was the chief guest.
Party’s poll management committee head Lal Singh too said the minister did not take his call. “I left messages with his OSD too. He is in demand in Punjab and I personally conveyed to Asha Kumari to get his dates,” he added. The CM too was quoted as saying he has asked Asha and Lal Singh to ask candidates and MLAs about their demand for campaigners, including Sidhu, before sending it to the AICC.
