Amid rift with Captain Amarinder, change in batting partner an option for Navjot Sidhu?

Navjot Singh Sidhu has shifted batting stance but not his team while playing for India. But politics is a different game altogether. In this one Sidhu has changed his stance, and may well be on his way to changing his team all over again. Delhi's Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal was in Punjab on June 21 and his words left a lot of room for speculation.

Arvind Kejriwal in Punjab

Kejriwal declared that the CM face for his party would be from the Sikh community. On Sidhu's inclusion into the party, the Delhi Chief Minister did not give a direct answer but was all praises for the batsman-turned-politician. By now it's a well-known fact that swords are out in the Punjab Congress - a full-blown war between Captain Amarinder Singh and Sidhu and the inability of the central leadership to resolve the differences.

Captain Amarinder Singh & Navjot Singh Sidhu's rift

Captain Amarinder Singh had earlier alleged that Sidhu had met Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal multiple times and that he is planning to fight the next election from the Captain's home turf of Patiala. On the other hand, Sidhu's diatribe against the Captain has continued. Sidhu had been insisting that he should be appointed the president of the Punjab Congress as this will automatically provide him with an opportunity to stump Captain Amarinder Singh in the distribution of tickets in the upcoming Assembly polls.

At a time when the Congress party has lost elections in four crucial states of Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry, Punjab is a territory they can battle for a victory, but the party has a habit of being its own worst enemy. As AAP eyes itself as the main contender to Congress in the polls in Punjab, the open war in Congress has only emboldened it to fortify its efforts. And the trump card may well be Sidhu. With a few months left for assembly polls in the state, Sidhu too wants to secure the best possible deal for himself, preferably in Congress or even outside. 

The bitterness that enveloped his exit from BJP does not leave him with many options. When in 2016 Sidhu exited his party of 12 years, he had received public invitations from AAP leaders in Punjab and Delhi to join their party. Some invitations take 5 years to be accepted. And this time around Sidhu just doesn't want to outsmart Captain but wants to be the Captain himself. Is the Aam Aadmi Party ready to fulfil his wish?

IMAGE: ANI/PTI