Chandigarh/New Delhi (28.06.2021): Relations between chief minister Amrinder Singh and defiant Navjot Singh Sidhu are said to have thawed following the move by former Congress president Rahul Gandhi to strike a compromise between the two Punjab leaders.
In view of the forthcoming state assembly elections in 2022, Gandhi was pressured to harmonize the relations between Captain and Sidhu.
To put the Congress Punjab house in order, Gandhi met last week state party president Sunil Jakhar, ministers Brahm Mohindra, Balbir Sidhu, Vijay Inder Singla, and Lok Sabha member Manish Tewari and Samsher Singh Dullo.
Among the five states where Assembly elections are due in 2022, Punjab is the only state where Congress has a good chance to do well.
The possible compromise between Captain and Sidhu is expected to tone up the muscle of the Congress party versus Shiromani Akali Dal which stands debilitated and exhausted after breaking its alliance with the BJP and now it has desperately joined hands with the BSP.
Meantime, a verbal duel has escalated between SAD and Congress.
SAD leader Sukhbir Singh Badal has alleged that the Punjab Chief Minister was following Rahul Gandhi’s directive to implicate SAD leadership in false cases. And instead of Captain, Sidhu has retorted that justice in the sacrilege case was “inching” forward under the SIT.
Siddhu tweeted: “6 Yrs since sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib Ji...No Justice in 2 yrs of your rule... No Justice in the following 4.5 yrs... Today, New SIT inches closer to Justice for Punjab’s Soul & you cry of political interference... Political interference was that which delayed Justice by 6 yrs.”
Significantly, Sidhu’s tweet came just days after the SIT questioned former Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal and also followed his outbursts that the CM's office was shielding the Badals.
The progress in SIT investigation is seen to have been taken to pacify Sidhu. Whether his other demands for actions against the liquor, sand, and transport mafia will be also met remains to be seen. Siddhu also wants action in the Bikram Singh Majithia case, who was blamed for being involved in a drug racket.
It is argued that Sindhu is making all these demands with an eye to grab the post of state party president, but his opponents are not willing to concede that to him as yet.
