Former legislator Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu with party workers on Thursday. (Express)As former Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu continues to stay away from the political scene, the Punjab Congress is keenly watching his former legislator wife, Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu, who has started holding meetings of Congress workers from different parts of the state.
Not only is she meeting party workers, but she is also posting group pictures with them on social media. While Sidhu is himself not seen in any of the pictures, her posts are being shared by Navjot Singh Sidhu’s Facebook page-Jittega Punjab.
On her pictures with workers, she has commented how workers should be encouraged. One of her messages reads: “Party belongs to its workers. It is not a personal property of a few leaders. Workers, if happy, make you win. Dissatisfied and ignored workers are fatal for any political party.”
A few days ago, she had posted that she had met Congress leaders from Jalandhar, Kartarpur and Ludhiana including sarpanches, panches, councillors and Zila Parishad members.
Party sources said the fact that Sidhus, who were earlier meeting workers from only their constituency, had opened their doors for the workers from other constituencies, evoked interest.
“Sidhus are being helped by several NRIs. They have been calling up their relatives in Punjab to go and meet Sidhu and strengthen his hands. This is what they had done for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) during last Assembly elections,” a Congress leader told The Indian Express.
A leader from Kartarpur, Harbhajan Sekhri, who had visited Sidhu’s house in Amritsar and met his wife, had come back and given a statement that he was feeling dejected in the party and he had gone to meet Sidhu.
A party leader from Malwa said Sidhu had invited several grassroots level workers from his constituency also a few days ago and they had visited him later. “We are also observing as to what he is up to,” said the leader.
Another party leader, however, said he was not perturbed. “Sidhu knows he can only amuse people with his jokes and couplets for not more than two months. That is why he has assigned his wife to meet the workers. She will engage these people for 7-8 months and then Sidhu ji will come out.” Sidhu has, however, been staying away. He is not visible. He did not attend the Vidhan Sabha session convened recently. He was not a part of the recent virtual meetings of MLAs held by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who had asked them to go among people amid the pandemic. He was not available for comments.