It is no secret that there is no love lost between Punjab CM Amarinder Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu as both the Congress leaders continue to repeatedly clash with each other. After the latest attempt to settle the disputes failed, Navjot Singh Sidhu has launched a tirade against the Amarinder Singh government which spells ominous signs for the Indian National Congress as Punjab heads to polls next year.
In a move that has completely caught the Congress leadership unaware, Navjot Singh Sidhu has launched a tirade against the Punjab government perhaps to gain an upper hand in the ongoing tense negotiations between him and Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh.
In the last fortnight, Sidhu addressed two press conferences in Patiala – believed to be the pocket borough of Amarinder Singh. Sidhu has also leveraged the power of social media and has been regularly uploading videos on his Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts where he lambasts the Punjab government for not taking action in drugs case, and not bringing the guilty to book in Bargari sacrilege.
Earlier this week, taking to social media, Sidhu wrote, “Sochi Samjhi, mili juli yojna hai, jisda maqsad…aap tan dubbange, sabna nu naal lai ke dubbange (Carefully crafted collusive abetment leading to… we will be ruined and ruin everybody else).”
Sidhu added, “This is not a failure of the government or the party but one person who is hand in glove with the culprits.”
Sidhu on social media has also been sharing old clips of his where the former BJP leader can be seen alleging an “unholy nexus” between various political rivals in Punjab. In one of the clips, Sidhu can be heard claiming that during the day they take on each other and in the evening they get together over drinks at the farmhouse.
Indian Express quoted a senior Congress leader as saying, “Those who were thinking this crisis created by Sidhu will blow over, or die down with time, it does not appear so. We have to find a solution to this problem.”
Complaining about Sidhu, another leader said, “A tragedy is waiting to happen. He is just waiting for a tipping point. His meetings with the CM over his adjustment have failed. He is only waiting for an opportune time. He is exonerating the government as well as the party but appears to be going after the CM. Yet, at the same time he has not gone to the Governor, like Partap Bajwa did.”
The Congress is caught in the Amarinder Singh – Navjot Sidhu conundrum as it seems amply clear that both the leaders are incompatible and the party will have to prioritise one over the other.