Navjot Singh Sidhu resigns from Rajya Sabha, may play for AAP

Ahead of the crucial Assembly elections in Punjab, cricketer-turned-politician and one of the BJP’s star campaigners, Navjot Singh Sidhu, resigned from the Rajya Sabha amid speculation that he could be the Aam Aadmi Party’s face in the poll-going state.

Mr Sidhu’s resignation even took the BJP by surprise as it came days after he had declared Narendra Modi is his hero when he was nominated by the BJP to the Upper House of Parliament. Both Mr Sidhu and his MLA wife, Navjot Kaur, do not share a good rapport with BJP’s ally Shiromani Akali Dal. Speculation is rife that Mr Sidhu could meet AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal soon to discuss his political future. In fact, after Mr Sidhu’s resignation, the Delhi chief minister tweeted: “I salute Sidhuji for his courage.”

Mr Sidhu’s joining AAP is expected to be a major boost for the outfit, which has already surged ahead of the Congress and the ruling BJP-Akali combine in Punjab. Senior AAP leaders Sanjay Singh and Lok Sabha member Bhagwant Singh Mann welcomed Mr Sidhu’s decision to resign from Rajya Sabha but parried questions whether he would join the party and become its CM face.

In a statement, Mr Sidhu said; “At the behest of hon’ble Prime Minister, I had accepted the Rajya Sabha nomination for the welfare of Punjab.” Sounding disillusioned, Mr Sidhu wrote: “With the closure of every window leading to Punjab the purpose stands defeated.” He felt that being a MP “is now a mere burden I prefer not to carry”. Quoting from the Gita, he said, “In the war of right and wrong, you cannot afford to be neutral rather than being self-centred.” For Mr Sidhu, “Punjab’s interest is paramount.” Mr Sidhu was apparently miffed with the party ever since he made way for Arun Jaitley in Amritsar in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Ms Kaur had announced her resignation on Facebook earlier in April but later changed her mind.

Mr Sidhu, who is originally from Patiala but was a two-term Lok Sabha MP from Amritsar, is from the Jat Sikh community, which, with 21 per cent of the state’s voting population, is often the deciding factor in elections.

Jat Sikhs, who are present primarily in the rural segment of Punjab’s three regions of Doaba, Malwa and Majha, are predominantly seen as the Akali votebank. However, if the AAP manages to get Mr Sidhu into their fold, it could cut into it. On an average, Akalis are known to get anything between 13 to 15 per cent of the Jat Sikh votes in the rural areas. This was one of the main reasons why the Badals managed to retain power in the 2012 Assembly elections.

Mr Sidhu being a prominent Sikh face in the state, something that the AAP was lacking till now, especially when pitted against a prominent Sikh leader like Parkash Singh Badal and Congress’ Amarinder Singh, is also likely to help.

According to Tanmesh Sharma, former lecturer of political science at Panjab University, the AAP is already making significant inroads into Punjab’s urban votebank. “In Punjab’s urban areas, the AAP is getting a lot of support among the Brahmin, Khatri and the Baniya community, which traditionally has been with the BJP. But if Mr Sidhu joins the AAP, then rural voters who are mainly Jat Sikhs could also go with the AAP and this combination of rural and urban voters could tilt the scales in the AAP’s favour,” he said.