Embattled Gandhis failed to redress his grouse as Capt refused to budge
Monday, 15/07/2019
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CHANDIGARH: The seeds of rivalry between Captain Amarinder Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu were sown the day the BJP rebel made a lateral entry into the Congress through poll strategist Prashant Kishor on the eve of the Punjab assembly elections in February 2017.
Sidhu made no bones about who his captain was after the Congress stormed to power after a decade-long political exile. His Twitter account still has his picture with Rahul Gandhi, who has announced to quit as Congress president, and his sister and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. As Sidhu flaunted his proximity to the Gandhis, his relationship with Amarinder remained an uneasy one at a time many states are witnessing a generational tussle within the party.
The skirmishes turned into full-blown war after Sidhu left the CM red-faced by his “friendly match with Badals” jibe on eve of Lok Sabha polls. Amarinder hit back when the Congress faced a rout in all states, barring Kerala and Punjab. Punjab had been able to withstand the saffron surge but Amarinder blamed Sidhu for loss of urban vote and declared to divest him of the important local bodies department.
Sidhu skipping the first cabinet meeting after LS polls on June 6 and putting out a report card before the CM through a press conference gave Amarinder the reason and time to strike. The same evening, he was stripped of the portfolio.
Four days later, Sidhu met Rahul and tweeted his picture with him, Priyanka and Ahmed Patel, whose office managed his campaign tours. It was seen as a show of solidarity by Gandhis. But the high command failed to redress Sidhu’s grievance.
Amarinder declined Patel’s invite for dinner citing his meeting with Union home minister Amit Shah at Delhi in June last week.
He later met Patel briefly but refused to yield an inch to even the Gandhis. Asserting himself in party affairs, Amarinder called for passing the baton to young blood in the party after Rahul’s resignation as party chief, a deft political move to win over younger leaders while not antagonising the Gandhis.
Back home in Punjab too, it is Captain’s writ that runs in a cabinet full of his loyalists. An outspoken minister, Sidhu remained a lone ranger and every reform he proposed in the cabinet was stonewalled.
He has found no support from any cabinet colleague after his resignation.
In the game of one-upmanship, Sidhu had his days. He basked in accolades for opening of the Kartarpur corridor and later as party’s star campaigner after the Congress won three states in the Hindi heartland in December last year. His proximity to the Ganadded to his growing clout within the party.
With the Gandhis’ political stock down, the odds are stacked against Sidhu, say political analysts. “Sidhu has gambled his future on the support of Gandhis who are in no position to dictate terms to Amarinder, who has emerged as a regional satrap. His options are limited now. He may go back to the BJP, which is ready to catch every leader that falls from another party. But it’s ally, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), may not find it palatable and will resist it,” says Prof Ashutosh Kumar of the department of political science at the Panjab University, Chandigarh.
But some feel that due to his attacks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the cricketerturned-politician has burnt bridges with the saffron party.
He is again being courted by the Aam Aadmi Party which wooed him before he joined the Congress. A sulking Sidhu is still incommunicado.
Will he emerge as a challenger to Amarinder within the party if resurrected in an organisational role or will he switch loyalties? All eyes are now on his next move.
