As the dates for the Punjab Assembly Polls get closer, uncertainty still looms large over the candidature of key contestants including that of sports person-turned politicians Navjot Singh Sidhu and Pargat Singh.
The main political parties including Congress, BJP and AAP are burning midnight fuel to get former BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu and former SAD MLA Pargat on board.
The duo however are running short of offers as the the political fourm floated by them ‘Awaaz-e-Punjab’ splited after 2 of its founding members ‘Bains’ brothers joined the Aam Aadmi Party.
Simarjit Bains and his brother Balwinder Singh Bains, both independent legislators from Punjab’s Ludhiana, met AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal in Bathinda on last Sunday.
Sidhu was not kept in the loop before the Bains brothers unilaterally announced their decision to join the AAP.
The AAP has promised five assembly seats for Bains brothers to decide their candidates. In fact, the AAP’s alliance with the political party floated by the Bains brothers recently is a drift from its principle of ‘no-alliance’ in elections.
Awaaz-e-Punjab, a political forum launched in September, had initially talked about allying with non-Akali and non-Congress political outfits. Sidhu had also criticised Kejriwal of running the Aam Aadmi Party like a dictator. After the last round of talks, Sidhu had declared that Kejriwal “wants only yes men.”
Navjot Singh Sidhu formally quit the BJP last month, but had made public his disenchantment with his party of a decade in July when he resigned from the Rajya Sabha. Since then he has been engaged in assessing other options.
If party sources to be belived Sidhu and Pargat Singh is likely to join the Congress anytime soon.
Sidhu and Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh have met party vice-president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi, on Tuesday. Following the meeting, Pargat Singh has sheduled to meet Sidhu on Wednesday.
The meeting sought to iron out differences between Capt and Sidhu.
Sidhu has been given the option to contest from Amritsar following the resignation of Capt Amarinder Singh from the parliamentary seat over the controversial issue of the Sutlej Yamuna Link canal (SYL).
Captain Amarinder Singh’s resignation letter as MP to Lok Sabha speaker protesting the Sutlej Yamuna link canal row Verdict. pic.twitter.com/C9WWOYr1bG
— ANI (@ANI_news) November 10, 2016
Reports suggest that Sidhu has also been given the option to contest as an MLA on a Congress ticket and eventually be elevated as deputy chief minister of Punjab in case the Congress wins the ensuing assembly polls just a few months away.
After a series of flip flops, Sidhu has now run out of options, which is why the Congress appears the best bet for the former cricketer.
