15 August was meant to be Navjot Singh Sidhu’s date of joining the Aam Aadmi Party, after he announced his resignation from the Rajya Sabha in July. A few days past the designated date, speculations are still rife about Sidhu’s political future.
Rumour mills had suggested that the cricketer-turned-politician will be joining the AAP which has been lobbying in Punjab for the upcoming assembly election in 2017.
A month after all the excitement and shockers in Punjab however, the same question continues to be unanswered. Will Sidhu be joining the AAP?
So far, chances seem bleak.
Sidhu, a true son of Punjab, was hoping for a position no less than the Chief Ministerial candidate of the state, proving to be the biggest roadblock to his entry into the party.
He earlier said he wouldn’t contest the Punjab elections and asked for an AAP ticket for his wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu – who’s still a BJP MLA from Punjab – instead. Now, Sidhu wants a ticket for both his wife and himself, putting the party in an awkward position.
According to sources, in order to join the party, Sidhu wants both his conditions – of becoming CM candidate, and acquiring a ticket for his wife and himself – fulfilled. The party on the other hand finds itself in no position to fulfil either demand.
India Today TV quoted an AAP source as saying:
The party cannot give tickets to two from the same family. We had agreed to give a ticket to Sidhu’s wife and also assured him that if she wins and AAP gets a majority, she will be made a minister.
The AAP leadership also insist that the party was hoping to get Sidhu on board as a star campaigner but never as the CM face.
Also Read: Navjot Sidhu Could be Chief Campaigner, Not CM Candidate: AAP
There has reportedly been no contact between the party and Sidhu in the past week, as negotiations apparently reached a dead end.
Cracks in his relationship with the BJP appeared when the party cast him aside in 2014 to pave way for the now Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to contest from Amritsar, the constituency Sidhu had represented for a decade.
Sidhu accused the saffron party of asking him to stay away from Punjab. Addressing the media after he announced his resignation, he said:
I’ve always wanted to serve Punjab and Amritsar. That’s all. No party in the world is bigger than Punjab. Punjab is my home and I cannot leave my home.
Uncertain of his next move, Sidhu is reportedly scoping other options in the state, including Congress, which had earlier openly invited Sidhu to join the party.
(With inputs from NDTV, Firstpost and India Today.)
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