Chhotepur’s bouncers, Sidhu’s hardball with AAP: Cong feels back in game

REGIONAL CARD Congress strategy to pitch Aam Aadmi Party as outfit of ‘outsiders’ has now been bolstered by Chhotepur’s calling Kejriwal and his team ‘anti-Sikh’

Whether Sidhu decides to join the AAP or not, it cannot create the same euphoria among voters. Sidhu too has come out as indecisive, hard-bargainer while his wife’s flip-flop has dented their credibility. A SENIOR CONGRESS LEADER

CHANDIGARH: Can you let those from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to rule Punjab? The regional card played by Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh at a political conference at Maghi Mela in January this year had a few takers as people thronged the rally of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal nearby. Come August and Congress, which was banking more on AAP’s misfortunes than its own luck, is feeling back in the game.

It is now AAP’s ousted state chief Sucha Singh Chhotepur who has raised the “outsiders versus Punjabis” bogey as he takes up cudgels against his own party and all Amarinder has to do is rub it in. Even in the months after the Maghi Mela — the conference when Congress realised Kejriwal’s sway in Punjab — it was the Congress that was hurtling from one controversy to another, be it its performance in the budget session, US-Canada tour of Amarinder, rout in state elections or allegations of Swiss bank accounts of the state Congress chief ’s family.

The AAP, all this while, was running full-page advertisements in newspapers on its performance in Delhi and making the right noises by publicising its ‘Parivar Jodo’ and Punjab dialogue programme.

CONG’S ‘ACHHE DIN’

But “achhe din” for the Congress have come from bad tidings for the AAP. The controversy over using its poll symbol broom on the youth manifesto gave the AAP its first brush with being on the wrong side of ‘Panthic’ issues. The rebellion that followed its first and second lists too had the Congress counting its gains. But reports of cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu resigning from the Rajya Sabha and jumping onto the AAP bandwagon led to turmoil in the Congress camp as Amarinder went from ridiculing Sidhu as “yet another clown in the AAP” to welcoming him into Congress within a span of few hours.

Since then, the Congress too is learnt to have made efforts to reach out to Sidhu as its poll strategist Prashant Kishor believed he could swing votes in AAP’s favour in the state elections.

But Kejriwal read the rulebook of “one family, one ticket” to Sidhu and went for his ‘Vipassana’ (meditation) in Himachal. He is back only to find Sidhu playing hardball. Though sources within the AAP claim the AAP-Sidhu talks are off, comedian-politician Gurpreet Ghuggi, who is close to Sidhu and part of his negotiations with the party, denies it. “We are eagerly waiting for Sidhu’s decision. He wanted some time. If he (Sidhu) puts Punjab above everything else, I am sure he will join us. His presence will benefit the party and the state,” says Ghuggi.

‘WILL DENT AAP’S NRI, SIKH FAN FOLLOWING’

But like the BJP, the AAP too is in no hurry to disown the Sidhus. The Chhotepur controversy has made the AAP eager for a Sikh face to fight allegations of Delhi leaders “targeting” those from Punjab. Sidhu is keeping up the suspense even as his wife Dr Navjot Kaur likes to throw reporters in tailspin by announcing, “Sidhu out of BJP, still in BJP, all options open, AAP best option and AAP not only option”.

But amidst the melee, the poll pitch is looking greener to the Congress.

Though efforts to woo Sidhu are on, the party also does not want to look too eager for his company. Punjab Congress affairs in-charge Asha Kumari says the Sidhus are still a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and it is for them to knock at the Congress door. “Our stand has been clear and consistent. It is for Sidhu to decide where he wants to go. The doors of Congress are open for everyone,” she says.

On his part, Amarinder said Chhotepur was welcome in the Congress fold to ensure another AAP faction does not slice away anti-incumbency votes. But Chhotepur is not likely to join either the Congress or the front of disgruntled AAP MPs Dharamvira Gandhi and Harinder Singh Khalsa.

Even if he doesn’t, the Congress feels the outbursts of Chhotepur, especially his calling Kejriwal and his Delhi team “anti-Sikh”, has dented the AAP fan following among NRIs (nonresidetn Indians) and Sikhs in Punjab. Many radicals in Punjab and abroad too were seen as AAP sympathisers.

“Whether Sidhu decides to join the AAP or not, it cannot create the same euphoria among the media and voters. Sidhu too has come out as indecisive and a hard-bargainer while his wife’s flip-flop has dented their credibility. The AAP hype in Punjab too has fizzled out,” a senior Congress leader said.

As Kejriwal’s party fights its own battles, the Congress will be unleashing its door-to-door campaign in the state from September 5.

Party’s rank and file will reach out to all constituencies even as surveys will try to locate the best candidates and weed out the “undesired” ones.