- CM Amarinder Singh appears composed, friendly
- He says his relationship with Sidhu’s family is decades old
- Sidhu says he would work shoulder to shoulder with CM
New Delhi: The Congress high command could successfully install Navjot Singh Sidhu as Punjab PCC President with Chief Minister present at the event in a cordial manner. Punjab which is scheduled to have assembly elections early next year is very important for the Congress. It has reasonable chances of retaining power provided both the chief minister and PCC chief work in tandem. The party high command appears to have brokered truce between the warring factions headed by CM Amarinder Singh and Sidhu.
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Navjot Singh Sidhu has taken over the Punjab PCC in style on Friday morning. The moment his name was called out, the former Indian batsman walked to the podium acknowledging the crowd and gestured with his mobile in hand hitting in the air as though he was sending up a soaring six mimicking the mobile as his bat. That was the way the swashbuckling batsman signalled his arrival at the top of the Congress party in Punjab.
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and newly appointed PCC president Navjot Singh Sidhu appeared to have buried the hatchet at the tea party given by the chief minister in the morning at Punjab Bhavan where Singh and Sidhu met for the first time after the party high command announced the latter as PCC president despite the reservations expressed by Singh.
At the inaugural ceremony Sidhu was seen sitting between the chief minister and the outgoing PCC chief Sunil Jakhar. “I will work shoulder to shoulder with the chief minister. I have no ego. The Congress is united today, contrary to what our opposition is saying,” Sidhu said in Punjabi in his first speech as PCC president. “We need to resolve all these issues. We have to do the politics of change,” Sidhu commented hinting at the chief minister. “Those who oppose me improve me,”he said in another hint to the CM. The tea party this morning marked the end of hostilities between the big two in Punjab, at least apparently.
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Important focus areas for him would be the farmers’ agitation in Delhi and the plight of doctors and nurses, Sidhu said. “My fights are not the issue. The farmers sitting in Delhi, the problems of doctors and nurses…these are the real issues,” he observed. “Zyada nahin bolna si, par visphotak bolna si (Should not speak much, but speak explosively), he said in his trademark Sidhuism.
Amarinder Singh, on his part, was in a lighter mood. Striking a nostalgic note, he recalled his decades old ties with Sidhu’s family. He said at the inaugural, “When Sidhu was born in 1963, I was in the army. When I left the army in 1970, my mother asked me to join politics. She said “meet with Bhagawan Singh Sidhu,” the father of Navjot Singh Sidhu. This is the relation I share with him (Navjot).”
“When Sonia Gandhi said Sidhu will be the next Congress Chief in Punjab, I said whatever the high command decides I will abide by the decision,” the chief minister said. He criticized Aam Admi Party (AAP) which has been posing as an alternative to the Congress in Punjab. “I have no faith in AAP…There are reports that they have some dealings with Pakistan,” he commented. Sidhu also criticized the AAP saying, “The Delhi model will be blown away by the Punjab model. Baat khatam (end of the matter).”
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