Call for ouster of Sidhu grows as Congress infighting intensifies

Former Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Navjot Singh Sidhu is facing dissatisfaction from several party leaders who demand his immediate removal. All the leaders have collectively expressed their stance. They stated that it’s time for the Congress high command to show Sidhu the way out despite respecting his tenure as the former chief of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee.

Kulbir Singh Zira described Sidhu as undisciplined, mentioning that his lack of discipline usually contradicts the collective efforts of the Congress party in handling political affairs. It was evident under his leadership, where Congress, which won 78 seats in the 2017 elections in Punjab, saw a significant decline to only 18 seats during the 2022 elections.
A verbal dispute seems to have erupted within the Punjab Congress. Partap Singh Bajwa, the Congress Legislature Party leader, urged Navjot Singh Sidhu, the former Punjab Congress president, to refrain from hosting individual ‘Akhara’ (public meetings).

In retaliation, Sidhu posted on Facebook, sharing a statement from his ex-advisor, Malvinder Singh Mali, who sharply criticized Bajwa.Sidhu had held a ‘Jittega Punjab’ rally at Mehraj in district Bathindaon Sunday. On Monday Bajwa not only asked Sidhu to act with maturity and to ‘digest’ the honour given by the party but also put the blame on him for Congress tally coming down from 78 seats (2017) to 18 (2022) in Punjab assembly. He asked Sidhu not to hold his separate Akhara and come to the party stages while joining the party cadres. “No Congressman likes it,” Bajwa had said.Past Tuesday midnight, Sidhu shared on his Facebook Mali’s FB post which latter had posted on Tuesday evening targeting Bajwa.

Sharing Bajwa’s video clip of his remarks about Sidhu, Mali wrote that it was an example of Bajwa’s misleading utterances emerging from his uneasiness.“If you reject INDIA bloc’s alliance politics and say that we shall not implement Congress high command’s decisions that do not become separate Akhara. But if Sidhu says that he would stand with the high command and would fight for Punjab how that becomes separate Akhara?” Mali asked in his post.