Bajwa 'appeals' Cong high command to take Sidhu on board

Congress' Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa today appealed the party high command to take former BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu on board in the fight against the "tyrannical" Akali-BJP rule, even as its Punjab unit insisted there were no talks with 'Awaaz-e-Punjab' forum.
Asserting he is not aware whether Congress and Awaaz-e-Punjab are engaged in talks or not, Bajwa said if the party is not engaged in talks, it must open communication channel with the Sidhu-led front, so as not to let the anti-Badal votes get divided in the upcoming Punjab polls.
"I want to appeal to the Congress high command that it should take Navjot Singh Sidhu on board in the joint fight against the tyrannical Akali-BJP rule in the state," the former Punjab Congress chief said.

"As the former PPCC chief and now MP, I want talks should be initiated with Sidhu... For the betterment of Punjab and Congress," Bajwa said.
Notably, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh and the party's Punjab affairs in-charge Asha Kumari had repeatedly said no talks is going on with Awaaz-e-Punjab.
However, Awaaz-e-Punjab member and Independent MLA Simarjit Singh had claimed Sidhu was in touch with the Congress high command for alliance and Amarinder "very well knows" about it.

"Congress must open channel with Navjot Singh Sidhu. Talk to him and bring him on the table and he should be convinced, because he has taken a public stand that he is against the Badals and wants an end to the SAD-BJP rule," Bajwa said.

He said talks should also be held with other members of the forum like Pargat Singh and the Bains brothers.
Asserting that "anti-Badal" votes should not split, he said, "There is a need to defeat Badals and there is no need to get into all this (that whether talks are on or not)."
Bajwa also said the party should not repeat the "mistake" it committed in the last Punjab Assembly elections.
"I had appealed to the Congress high command during 2012 polls that talks should be held with Manpreet Badal's Peoples' Party of Punjab for alliance. But my suggestion was not accepted and we lost the polls," he claimed.

"I feel that the revival of Congress will start from Punjab if we are able to win the upcoming assembly polls," he said.