People have defeated arrogance; Cong on way to revival: Sidhu

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 11

Depending on his stream of one-liners, the cricketer-turned-politician, Navjot Singh Sidhu, today attributed the victory of the Congress as its revival and the defeat of greed and arrogance.

The Amritsar East Constituency was watched keenly after the BJP’s four-time MP Navjot Singh Sidhu’s candidature was announced to contest for this seat on the Congress ticket, that too against his ‘once disciple’ and the BJP’s former district chief Rajesh Honey.

Sidhu defeated Honey with a margin of 42,809 votes. He has polled 60,477 votes, followed by Honey who got 17,668 votes. The AAP’s Sarbjot Singh had to be content with just 14,715 votes.

In an apparent bid to upstage his party’s state chief, Sidhu conducted a press conference amidst celebrations at his residence even before the official declaration of his triumph. He said "this is the revival of the Congress, it is just the beginning, it will draw energy from Punjab and spread out from here".

Taking cognisance of it, his parent party, the BJP, took a dig at him while pointing towards the Sidhu-Capt tussle, saying "it’s the start of intra-Congress clash".

Nonetheless, an overenthusiastic Sidhu refrained from defining his role in the party or whether he would quit his entertainment television industry career for the sake of Punjab.

If Sidhu gets the Deputy Chief Minister’s post, then both the Chief Minister and his deputy will share the same birthplace -- Patiala. However, the hostile undercurrents between the two in the past are no secret. Sidhu joined the Congress only at the AICC’s New Delhi office in the presence of Rahul.

Without naming Sukhbir Badal and his brother-in-law Bikram Singh Majithia, Sidhu observed that the public mandate has exposed the arrogance of the two of these Akalis. He said Akalis were rejected by the people due to its leaders’ ego, filing of frivolous police cases and loot.

“It was a battle for the Congress’ identity and its Pagdi (honour) against those who made politics their dhanda (business) and put Punjab under debt ”, he said.

Crediting the victory to AICC chief Sonia Gandhi, Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, Capt Amarinder Singh and Priyanka Gandhi, he said, “I am a soldier of Rahul Gandhi and this victory is a New Year gift to him. Punjab’s treasure has to be restored by way of adopting concrete policies. Keeping aside the political enmity, I promise Sonia ji that we will make Punjab an example and will be ready to sacrifice anything to restore its lost glory”.

He said he would have no qualms to beg before the NDA-led Central government, if it would be in favour of Punjab.

Targeting AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal, he said, “Kejriwal tried to create a false ‘wave’ in Punjab with his trolls through social media. “But he tasted defeat because he had vested interests. He intended to grab power for himself only," he said.