Popular traction in poll year may clinch it for Sidhu

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 17

Amritsar East MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu’s impending elevation as Punjab Congress president despite stiff opposition from CM Capt Amarinder Singh appears rooted in Congress leadership’s independent assessment of the ground situation in the state and the felt need to offset anti-incumbency sentiment.

Internal surveys the party commissioned over recent months to judge the mood of the voters in poll-bound Punjab are learnt to have yielded results that have trumped all other considerations of caste and class when it comes to deciding on the next state unit chief.

Sidhu’s popular traction is the single most important factor working to his favour so far, coupled with the former cricketer’s ability to galvanise people around emotional issues of faith and identity, with sacrilege leading the list besides drug abuse and Kartarpur Corridor.

What may go in his favour

• Congress internal surveys have revealed the urgency to offset anti-incumbency trends and bring in a leader who can galvanise voters and compliment CM’s appeal
• Sidhu’s ability to galvanise people around emotional issues of faith and identity, besides attracting additional voters in a poll year appear to be working in his favour
• Poll arithmetic points to the need for retaining Jat Sikh support. Of the 80 elected party MLAs in the 2017 Assembly elections, 32 were from this community
• Party feels it necessary to infuse freshness in its top line of Punjab leadership and give someone like Sidhu, a proven crowd puller, one chance in electoral interest
• Dominant concern of the top brass right now is winning the next state election. This and Sidhu’s appeal are prevalent over all other calculations of community representation as of now

The surveys have indicated anti-incumbency of the Congress government and the urgency to ward off voter inertia with freshness. Ground exercises have also revealed Sidhu’s capacity to galvanise additional voters to the party’s advantage in an election year.

Even going by the poll arithmetic, the Congress looks convinced that it needs to retain the Jat Sikh support. Of the 80 elected Congress MLAs in 2017, 32 belong to the community followed by 13 Hindus, 23 SCs, 10 OBCs and the rest others.

Further, in a state with rare recent history of a sitting government returning to power (SAD had bucked the trend by repeating the government in 2012), the Congress feels it is necessary to infuse freshness in its top line of Punjab leadership and offer someone like Sidhu, a proven crowd puller, one chance.

With Sidhu keen on only one role and no other, Congress president Sonia Gandhi is left with no choice but to yield in case she wants to retain the former sportsman at all costs, notwithstanding CM’s steady resistance.

Sources privy to recent developments say most MLAs who met the AICC panel on Punjab, led by Mallikarjun Kharge, also told the party that Sidhu had a campaign appeal and must be retained, while the CM should continue and must be made accountable.

The panel accordingly recommended that the CM should stay and Sidhu be given a “suitable role”. Sonia wants to retain both — Captain Amarinder in his current role and Sidhu in a principal role as someone with additional traction — a handy combination of experience and energy.

“Sidhu has made it clear the only position acceptable to him is that of the state president. The party must therefore weigh all its options and decide to move along the lines it considers best. Sidhu’s expected installation as PCC chief is not intended to undermine the CM, whose authority has been repeatedly stressed. AICC general secretary Harish Rawat has clarified that the CM will lead the party to the 2022 elections,” a senior Congress leader said, adding the pressing concern of the Congress top brass was winning the next elections and taking every step to get there.

This, the sources say, was the predominant urge right now given the party’s steady electoral decline and the fact that it is now limited to three states on its own — Rajasthan, Punjab and Chhattisgarh.

Insiders say the calculation of winning the 2022 state election and, to that end, betting on Sidhu’s appeal in larger party interest, appears prevalent over other calculations of community representation.

“Elections are increasingly becoming personality driven. The value of every leader in politics is determined by the purpose he serves at a given point in time. Star value matters. How else would Sunny Deol, an outsider, enter Gurdaspur and defeat a veteran Congress man of many years in the 2019 LS polls?” said a leader, explaining why Sidhu is important to the Punjab Congress scheme of things at this juncture.