Sulking Sidhus put up brave face

Tuesday’s announcement of Congress nominees for Punjab elections may possibly hasten the ‘exclusion’ of sorts of firebrand Congress minister and ex-cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu from the political landscape.

The announcement of candidates has drawn the curtains on the possibility of Sidhu’s wife, Dr Navjot Kaur, reigniting her political fortunes. Sidhu was "assured" a Lok Sabha seat by the Congress when he joined the party to contest the assembly elections in 2017 on Congress ticket, it is learnt. That’s not the case any more.

Navjot Kaur, a former BJP MLA before coming to the Congress fold, was eyeing any one of the Lok Sabha seats from Chandigarh or Amritsar. Both were denied at the last minute. In fact, Kaur had already started campaigning in Le Corbusier-designed capital city Chandigarh, only to cut a sorry figure now.

Rebuke for Sidhu

Many within the Congress see the developments as a possible rebuke of sorts for Navjot Sidhu, given the controversies he has invited and the way he has often preferred to take a stand contrary to the party or the chief minister on certain issues. The Congress Working Committee preferred old warhorse and former union minister, the four-time MP Pawan Kumar Bansal from Chandigarh, putting an end to Kaur's dreams of being an MP from the capital city. Dr Kaur was a government medical officer before she quit her job to join active politics. She, however, put up a brave face on Wednesday.

“Bura to lagta hai (you feel hurt). I came to Chandigarh with lot of hope. Fight was only till ticket announcement. Like a dedicated worker, I will now work towards Congress win,” she said.

Navjot Sidhu, who is seen as a towering Congress leader in Punjab with a national appeal as a star campaigner, arguably does not share a good rapport with Chief Minister Capt Amarinder. During the recent Rahul Gandhi visit to Punjab, he was not on the list of Congressmen to speak at the rally. Sidhu’s controversial remarks and conclusions on Pakistan have not augured well with the party, especially Capt.