The Sukhbir Badal-led Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is already in campaign mode and, after a hiccup and a run-in with the farm unions, has announced candidates for more than 60 of the 97 seats it is contesting (ally BSP has been allotted the other 20). The Congress can’t afford to let things drift. Many of the miffed legislators are either cosying up to Amarinder or exploring opportunities outside the party. Punjab has too many sulking Congress legislators, who have either been dropped or could not be accommodated in the cabinet. If the crisis is not nipped in the bud, the state Congress could be torn apart by its various factions. These developments must worry the strategists at Congress headquarters, especially the Gandhi siblings-Rahul and Priyanka-who had mobilised support in the state unit for Sidhu and bulldozed opposition from then CM Amarinder to hand over the PCC to the cricketer-turned-neta. Now, it will be political suicide if the impression goes out that the Dalit chief minister was being undermined to appease Sidhu, a Jat Sikh leader. This was done at the risk of alienating the Jat Sikhs.
On September 20, Channi took oath as chief minister breaking the Jat Sikh stranglehold over the post and the Congress seemed in a winning position vis-à-vis the 32 per cent Dalit vote in the state. The ex-Patiala ruler’s “humiliating” exit has generated a lot of sympathy among moderate Sikhs and urban Hindus in Punjab this man is unstable, he can’t be trusted.” Sidhu’s predecessor in the PCC Sunil Jakhar also took potshots at him while Anandpur Sahib MP, Manish Tewari, expressed his anguish in cryptic tweets. Directing his barb at the party high command, the recently ousted chief minister said: “I told you. So, instead of being in campaign mode, the Congress leadership is again stuck doing crisis management. But have they misplaced their bets with the mercurial ex-cricketer? “The state Congress now has more factions than a month back, when it was just the Sidhu or Amarinder camp,” says a top state Congress leader. With the assembly poll due in five months, Congress leaders want to keep Sidhu in good humour and use his oratorical skills to galvanise support among the Sikh youth.
On September 29, Priyanka Gandhi was assigned the task. Party leaders in Punjab have tried, but to no avail. The question now is who will convince the “emotional” Sidhu to fall in line. Ex-CM Amarinder Singh after putting in his papers, Sept.
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