Sidhu's 'persecution complex' puts him in a fix in Punjab politics

With Sidhu in a self-imposed exile, his future in the Congress depends not just on apotheosizing the Gandhis but also on his acquiescence to Amarinder Singh

After a photo-op with Congress President Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in New Delhi last week, Navjot Singh Sidhu has retreated to his shell, staying away from the media and the public.  As new minister of power in the Amarinder Singh government, the cricketer-turned-politician hasn’t taken charge of his ministry even a week after his appointment. Sidhu presented his side of the story to the Gandhi siblings after drawing flak from the party leadership in Punjab for his indiscretion before and after the Lok Sabha election.

While senior Congressman Ahmed Patel is playing firefighter, there seems to be little support for Sidhu. Senior party leaders said Sidhu’s behaviour was strange considering “he had no reason to feel he is being targeted unfairly”. 

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh divested Sidhu of his portfolio of housing and urban development and assigned him the power, new and renewable energy department. This seems to have triggered a series of events that culminated in Sidhu’s meeting with Rahul and Priyanka. 

The case against Sidhu’s continuance as urban development minister was rooted in both political and administrative reasons, according to a senior Congress leader. As minister of housing and urban development, Sidhu was rarely seen in Chandigarh attending to official work. A senior leader said that Sidhu’s wife was poring over important files. While Sidhu remained aloof from his ministry, he tried to exert influence over Congress mayors in urban areas to “bring them under his control”. 

Local Congress leaders in urban areas complained that work stalled because of Sidhu’s non-performance. Hundreds of civic maps in various urban centres of Punjab, like in Jalandhar, remained unapproved and development work stalled. The state leadership’s assessment is that this cost the Congress heavily in urban areas in the Lok Sabha election even as rural voters rallied behind the aggressive pro-farmer schemes of Amarinder which helped the party win eight of the 13 parliamentary seats in the state. 

A party leader said that while Hindu consolidation against the Congress in urban areas was definitely a reason, the perception among city voters that the Congress government cared only for villages led to its virtual rout in urban areas. 

Second, Sidhu has also been blamed for the Congress not being able to wrest Bathinda from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). While the seat has been a Badal family pocketborough since 2009, party leaders felt that the Congress could have caused a major upset in there by defeating Harsimrat Kaur Badal.   A couple of days before the polling on May 19, Sidhu called the Congress-Akali contest in Bathinda a “friendly match”, causing deep consternation among the Congress’ state leadership. Badal eventually won Bathinda by a margin of 22,000 votes. 

Third, Sidhu’s behaviour seems to have irked state Congress leaders who feel Amarinder has been too “accommodating” with him. While many wanted Sidhu out of the Cabinet, Amarinder chose to re-assign him to the power department — a crucial portfolio in the state. With Sidhu not taking charge of the ministry, he is being perceived as a “shirker whose political drive and ambition do not show in his work”. A party leader said: “There is nothing wrong in being ambitious. But he has a persecution complex. He is unable to digest authority. His behaviour doesn’t endear him to anybody. He is averse to any kind of discipline.” 

Last, his open challenge to Amarinder is being seen malevolently by not just Punjab’s ministers but also the party’s legislators and cadre. Amarinder is the only personality around which the Congress revolves in Punjab and his role in taking everybody along — from his own party to the Opposition — endears him to many. Many feel Sidhu’s open revulsion to Amarinder smacks of not just opportunism but also disrespect for the chief minister’s seniority and administrative experience. 

A party leader explained that Sidhu doesn’t exist as a politician outside Punjab and his past affiliation to the BJP doesn’t inspire trust in him among party cadre. While it remains unclear when Sidhu will emerge from his self-imposed exile, his future in the Congress depends not just on apotheosising the Gandhis but also on his acquiescence to Amarinder.