'One-year jail sentence may not affect Navjot Singh Sidhu's political career'

AMRITSAR: One-year imprisonment awarded to the former Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Navjot Singh Sidhu by the Supreme Court (SC) in a road rage case on Thursday may not affect much on the political career of the leader who has already been fighting within his own party for another ‘prominent position’ and had even been publicly sulking after having failed to attract the attention of the party high command for long.
Advisor to the former chief minister Harcharan Singh Brar and political analyst Manohar Lal Sharma said, “One year jail sentence will not be politically detrimental to Sidhu instead he will turn out to be a hero”.
He said Sidhu was not involved in a moral turpitude case but a road rage case so the majority of sentiments of people will be in his support.
Notably, Sidhu had begun his political career in 2004 when he had returned from Pakistan via Attari international border after completing his commentary assignment for India-Pakistan cricket series.
Initially, Sidhu was reluctant to contest elections but after the intervention of senior BJP leadership, he contested the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat and defeated the Congress party’s old horse late Raghunandal Lal Bhatia , six-time member of parliament. In January 2017, Sidhu shifted loyalty to Congress.
Reacting to SC’s decision, senior BJP leader and former health minister Anil Joshi said “He is bearing the fruits of his own actions."
Joshi opined that it was Sidhu’s ego that had sent him behind bars. “Like a humble person, he should have apologized to the family of the deceased but he didn’t and the same thing is happening with him in his political carrier”.
PPCC general secretary Yoginder Pal Dhingra said “This is court's decision and everyone has to abide by it even Sidhu himself had said the same.
When asked whether it would make any dent in the party’s image, Dhingra said “This is an old case which doesn’t involve any corruption or major crime but a road rage incident. It was reviewed several times and could be reviewed in future too."
Many other Congress leaders here declined to comment on the SC’s decision on Sidhu. However, a close confidant of Sidhu who is often seen with him said on the condition of anonymity, “This decision is certainly going to affect the PPCC’s image which will be well exploited by the opposition political parties.”
He further opined that this could also prompt party high command to expedite its decisions on Sidhu which was already pending.