Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu is back from the boondocks

Navjot Singh is on the list of star campaigners of the Congress for the Delhi Assembly elections.

Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu is back from the boondocks. He is on the list of star campaigners of the Congress for the Delhi Assembly elections. His name features with party bigwigs such as Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and Manmohan Singh. Sidhu had been away from active politics since he quit the Punjab cabinet in July last year over differences with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. He was also dropped as a Congress campaigner for the Haryana elections last year. Sidhu’s bonhomie with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan also became a matter of concern in the party, with Amarinder complaining that Sidhu didn’t seek his permission to attend Khan’s oath-taking ceremony in Pakistan. Photographs of Sidhu embracing Pakistan’s army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa also embarrassed the party back then

 
From friends to foes

With the opposition parties having put up a united front to corner the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), self-proclaimed secular outfits — the Congress and Samajwadi Party (SP) — seem to be on a collision course now. Over the past weeks, top leaders of the Congress and SP have been meeting the families of anti-CAA protesters who were killed during protests or put behind bars. With Sunil Singh, who was president of the disbanded Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV) and used to be a close confidant of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath, joining the SP, the Congress has started calling the socialist outfit anti-Muslim. Singh was known for making inflammatory speeches during his stint as president of the HYV. Now the SP is planning to pitch him against Adityanath.

 

Silent Shah Rukh Khan

Once in a while, Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan (pictured) hosts freewheeling question-and-answer sessions on Twitter, using the hashtag #AskSrk. His fans and twitterati in general get a dose of the actor’s charm and wit in his replies. However, the #AskSrk on Wednesday was a little different. Those who have been questioning his silence on the citizenship law and the protests against it found this session the perfect occasion to address him directly and, as some put it, “call him out” on his silence. Some tweets merely questioned his silence while some others wanted to know when he was going to speak up against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens. Khan continued to steer clear of making any remarks on the protests till the time of going to press.