Will Navjot Singh Sidhu have the last political laugh?

Chandigarh: Behind the incessantly chortling image of Navjot Singh Sidhu in the realm of comedy on Kapil Sharma’s popular show is someone at the crossroads of a volatile political career. Sidhu has, for years now, remained frustratingly marginalised within the Congress — a party he served as the state president until the 2022 Assembly polls.

Punjab goes to the polls in less than a year, and is poised to witness a political churn in the run-up.

Sidhu’s namesake wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu, a medical doctor by profession and a former MLA, vexed Congressmen straight up to the central leadership when she recently denounced Rahul Gandhi as “Pappu” and dropped the “Rs 500-crore-suitcase” remark, suggesting that it was a “pre-qualification to become a Congress chief minister”. What followed was no surprise: AICC general secretary and the party’s Punjab in-charge Bhupesh Baghel was quick to announce her expulsion.

But what Kaur said against the Gandhis or the Congress was perhaps not a remark out of naivety. It was the scaffolding of a possible political reset for the Sidhu couple. After all, Navjot Singh Sidhu has been yearning to come out of political hibernation.

Before he joined the Congress, Sidhu was a BJP MP. His response to his wife’s “Pappu” jibe at Rahul Gandhi has been guarded. After all, he has been trying to test the waters, but is unwilling to burn his bridges with the Congress.

Regardless of his mass urban appeal as a Jat Sikh, his awe-inspiring oratory, combative swagger, and relatively clean political image, Navjot Singh Sidhu remains an unutilised asset. He is widely seen as an unpredictable politician.

That notwithstanding, his assets outweigh his weaknesses and leaders from both the BJP and the Congress subtly acknowledge his ability to turn tides.

Next stop: BJP?

Sidhu’s BJP entry, given his expendability within the Congress, is a more intricate proposition than it appears.

On one hand, Punjab Congress leaders say “no tears will be shed” if the Sidhu couple leaves the party. Sidhu wouldn't have settled for anything less than being announced as the party’s chief-ministerial face in the run-up to the elections.

However, he also knows that he would have to navigate a minefield of detractors for his dreams to come true. Punjab’s Congress unit has too many aspirants for the coveted post, who are keeping the ammunition dry to stonewall any attempt to rehabilitate Sidhu.

On the other hand, this year is crucial for the BJP in Punjab. The saffron outfit now no longer walks with the crutches of its former alliance partner, the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal): They severed ties over the now-repealed farm laws. Whether they rejoin hands is another story, but the fact remains that the BJP has a limited electoral outreach, given that it contested only 23 of the 117 Assembly seats in Punjab as an ally of the SAD.

Sidhu, however, has some other challenges ahead. Consider this: Former two-term Congress CM Capt Amarinder Singh is now in the BJP, having been unceremoniously removed as the chief minister ahead of the 2022 Assembly polls. He is again flexing his muscles at 83 years of age.

Sidhu was a Cabinet minister when Amarinder was the CM. They had a strained relationship, and Sidhu, then close to Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi, presumably played a part in Amarinder’s ouster. Sidhu will have to navigate this, while the BJP will have to see beyond personal acrimony if it has to even project itself as an option in this border state.

Meanwhile, a lot is being made of the recent Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons to Amarinder and his son Raninder Singh in an old FEMA case. Amarinder, recuperating from a knee-replacement surgery at a multispecialty hospital near here, did not appear before the ED, citing health reasons. And then, days after the summons were issued, the seniormost ED officer in Jalandhar was transferred to Chennai.

As for a possible SAD-BJP reunion, Sidhu’s presence in the saffron party might queer the pitch again. Sidhu, as a member of the treasury benches, was extremely vocal against SAD strongman and former Cabinet minister Bikram Singh Majithia, who is SAD chief Sukhbir Badal’s brother-in-law, both inside and outside the Assembly. Both Majithia and Sidhu have stakes in Amritsar (East), from where they unsuccessfully contested the last assembly polls in 2022 against each other. The AAP candidate won the seat.