Punjab Assembly election result 2022: What next for Navjot Singh Sidhu after getting clean bowled in Punjab?

“Humbly accept the mandate of the people of Punjab… Congratulations to AAP,” tweeted Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu as early trends have shown that AAP is heading for a clean sweep in the northern state.

The voice of the people is the voice of God …. Humbly accept the mandate of the people of Punjab …. Congratulations to Aap !!!

— Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) March 10, 2022

It’s a disappointing result for the cricketer-turned-politician on the personal front too as he lost to AAP’s Jeevan Jyot Kaur.

Follow all live updates from the Punjab Assembly Election result here

Here’s a glimpse into his politics — from the BJP to switching to the Congress and all things in between.

Political debut

Sherry, as he is famously called, joined politics in 2004 on the guidance of Arun Jaitley. It was a surprise to all that the cricketer joined the saffron party, as his father was a Congress general secretary.

He was given a ticket and won the 2004 general elections from the Amritsar seat. However, he resigned from Lok Sabha in 2006 on being convicted for homicide in a road rage incident of 1988. He appealed to the Supreme Court which suspended his sentence.

Sidhu later contested the by-elections for the Amritsar constituency and won.

He proved his political credentials when he won the constituency once again in the 2009 general elections.

Sidhu did not contest the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He, instead, vacated it for then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who lost to Captain Amarinder Singh of Congress. The BJP then to placate Sidhu nominated him to the Rajya Sabha in April 2016. However, he resigned from the Rajya Sabha on 18 July 2016.

Switching sides

An attempt to form his own party, Awaz-e-Punjab, along with the Bains brothers, didn’t go too well and in 2017, Sidhu finally joined Congress and started a new political inning.

Under the Amarinder Singh government, he was appointed as the Local Government Minister.

But it seemed all was not well between Amarinder and Sidhu from the very beginning. It was reported then that Amarinder wasn’t happy with the way Sidhu was inducted into the Congress.

Differences between the two only widened when Navjot Singh Sidhu attacked Badals and reminded Captain Amrinder Singh of his promise to wipe out the drug mafias.

Things came to a real head in 2018 when Navjot Singh Sidhu clashed with Amarinder Singh over the former’s decision to hug the Pakistan army chief Qamar Ahmed Bajwa when he was in Pakistan to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Imran Khan as the prime minister.

“As far as hugging the Pakistan Army chief is concerned, I am not in its favour. It was wrong for him to have shown the affection towards the Pakistan Army chief,” Captain Amarinder Singh was quoted as saying back then.

Matters worsened when a ‘hurt’ Sidhu chose to visit Pakistan once again at the end of Punjab much to Amarinder’s annoyance. It was then that Sidhu had said: “Which Captain? He (Amarinder) is a captain in the army…but my captain is Rahul Gandhi. It is he who sent me to Pakistan.”

In 2019, Navjot Singh Sidhu resigned from Captain Amarinder Singh cabinet.

The relationship between the two continued to remain tenuous and there continued to be rumblings and in-fighting between the two camps within the party.

Drama reached a climax in September 2021 when Amarinder Singh announced his resignation as chief minister after feeling ‘humiliated. In November, he even stepped away from the Congress, writing in his resignation letter, “Despite my profound reservations and over the unanimous advice of almost all the MPs from Punjab, you chose to appoint an acolyte of the Pakistani deep state Navjyot Singh Sindhu who had publicly hugged the Pakistan Army Chief Gen Bajwa and Prime Minister Imran Khan, as the president of the Punjab Congress Committee.”

Amarinder had said Sidhu’s only claim to fame was that he would abuse him and his government.

The two shared acrimonious words against each other with Sidhu calling Amarinder a ‘spent cartridge’.

No point taking aim if you are loaded with blanks, empty cartridges don’t fire 🔥 - big boast small roast !! There was nothing - No attack, the threat was flat... as flat as a pancake 🥞
Khataaak !!!
#PunjabVidhanSabha @INCPunjab @PunjabGovtIndia https://t.co/qK9GJaLVjj

— Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) December 14, 2018

The political drama continued as Sidhu dropped a bombshell, announcing his resignation . In a letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, which he shared on Twitter, he wrote that he could never compromise on Punjab’s future and the agenda for the welfare of the state.

After much appeasement and mollification, he took back his resignation and said he would work side by side with the newly appointed Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi.

What next for Sidhu?

Described as an “impulsive and self-centred” politician and called out for not being a team player, Sidhu’s political career now seems uncertain as it appears that he will be losing his Amritsar East constituency.

Reports have emerged that Sidhu has offered to resign following the Congress’s poor show in Punjab.

Twitter went full hog on him as the counting progressed, with many noting that Sidhu was to blame for the Congress debacle in the state.

Sidhu has done to Congress what he had done many times when he was a cricketer: run better batsmen out and then get out himself.

— Arnab Ray (@greatbong) March 10, 2022

Another netizen noted:

To use a Sidhuism on Sidhu: There is still light at the end of the tunnel for him. Unfortunately it is coming from a train that is going to run him over.

— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) March 10, 2022

We shall keep a close watch on Sidhu’s next steps, and knowing the flamboyant and outspoken politician — he will make headlines once again.

With inputs from agencies

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