In what can be considered as music to the ears of the BJP and its supporters, the Congress party is going to employ controversial Punjab cabinet minister and former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu as party’s star campaigner in three poll-bound states- Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The voting for the first phase of Chhattisgarh state assembly election was held on 12 November while the voting for the second phase will be held on November 20.
According to the media reports, Sidhu will campaign in Chhattisgarh on November 16, 17 and 18. After this, he will campaign in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan for four days each.
Congress’ secretary in-charge of communication, Pranav Jha has confirmed this and said that Sidhu’s election campaign programme will be released by the respective state Congress Committees.
At a time when the Grand Old Party party is plagued by infighting in almost all the poll-bound states, employing Navjot Singh Sidhu as star campaigner is a bizarre choice to make. In the past, Sidhu with his acts and speeches has created unnecessary controversies that gave opposition a lot many chances to attack the Congress. Now as well, Sidhu is in the midst of a lot of controversies including his visit to Pakistan and his conduct therein, his despicable remark against South India and his wife’s callous attitude moments after the Amritsar train tragedy.
Sidhu’s presence in poll-bound states will only provide opposition parties with more chances to target the Congress. With campaigners like Rahul Gandhi and Navjot Singh Sidhu, BJP should be celebrating rather than getting worried. Gandhi scion’s mismanagement is already helping a lot to the BJP and now Sidhu with his role as the star campaigner would only exacerbate the things for the Congress party. The selection of Sidhu as star campaigner marks a complete tone-deafness on Congress’ part and it also indicates the fact that Congress has no leaders to project. At present time, the Congress party is going through its worst phase and one of the main reasons behind this is the lack of leadership and particularly, the absence of leaders with mass appeal.
On the other hand, BJP has many leaders who are popular throughout the country and have that mass appeal. PM Modi, Amit Shah, CM Yogi, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh etc. are the leaders who have the capability of turning things in favour at any point of time. This lack of popular leaders has already damaged the Congress’ electoral prospects in many state assembly elections and seems to continue in the upcoming state assembly elections also. Despite all his shortcomings, Rahul Gandhi is the only Congress leader who has some mass appeal but he himself can’t be available for party’s rescue everywhere. That is the reason why the Grand Old Party projects leaders like Sidhu as star campaigners but such desperate moves on the part of Congress are also not likely to improve the electoral prospects of the party given the controversial background and limited appeal of the leader.