Bold moves: Will BJP's Sidhu join AAP and become its Punjab CM candidate?

On the cards

So what's the next move? Will the couple stay on with the BJP, a party that sent Sidhu thrice to the Lok Sabha and recently to the Rajya Sabha? Will he jump back into Punjab politics headfirst? Will he be the game changer in the forthcoming assembly polls?

Most importantly, is the Sidhu couple going to join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)?

It's a well-known fact that the couple had been unhappy with the state of affairs, particularly the decision taken during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls when Sidhu was forced to vacate his constituency in Amritsar to let BJP heavyweight Arun Jaitley contest from the 'safe' seat.

Observers say that he has been in political hibernation ever since.

The BJP then recently nominated him to the Rajya Sabha in a desperate bid to placate him and his wife, as they cannot afford to lose him at this crucial juncture when the assembly polls are only a few months away.

A likeable politician

Sidhu's popularity with the youth is unparalleled in his generation of politicians. His clean track record and integrity had not only given the BJP a Sikh face in Punjab, but had helped the party reap electoral benefits in both the parliamentary and state polls.

In the last four elections the BJP contested 23 seats out of 117 in the state assembly in alliance with its partner, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Its best performance was in 2007 when it won 19 of these 23 seats. In the last assembly elections, it had won 12 seats garnering 7.15% of the votes polled in the entire state and 39.73% of the votes polled in the seats contested.

His political hibernation caused immense damage to the BJP both in Punjab as well as outside. His refusal to campaign for Jaitley led to a drubbing for the latter at the hands of Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh in 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Known as a crowd puller because of his excellent oratory skills and from being a popular face on television shows, his absence from BJP campaign in Bihar and other states hurt the party's fortunes in a big way.

Also read - Punjab's interest is paramount, says Navjot Singh Sidhu post resignation

Growing discontent

His problems with the SAD initially began when he attacked finance minister Bikramjit Singh Majithia, ahead of the 2014 polls, for ignoring his constituency. Sidhu then refused a post in the National Commission for Minorities, offered to him a few months ago.

A large number of Sidhu's followers in the BJP also believe that he should have been fielded in the recent polls, instead of people like Shwet Malik, rather than being sent off to the Rajya Sabha.

His wife has also not shied away from throwing barbs at the Akalis over the past year. Her constant refrain to the BJP has been that the party should break ties of with the Akalis and fight the polls alone if they want to grow in the state.

The on 1 April, she posted a note on social media saying she had resigned from the party . That was later found to be untrue.

BJP leaders in Punjab have been wary of overtures coming from the AAP leadership to the Sidhu couple. Speculations have been rife over the last year about the couple joining AAP.

More recently, Navjot Kaur had fired yet another salvo at the Akalis, which thoroughly embarrassed the SAD-BJP alliance. She reportedly said that drugs were being supplied in Punjab using vehicles with "red beacons". The AAP leadership had pounced on the issue and had asked BJP to come clean on the issue and clarify its stand on the menace of drugs in the state.

Senior AAP leader and Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann had quoted Navjot Kaur as saying that these red beacons have been allotted by deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal to "every Tom, Dick and Harry".

Mann said that although all of Punjab knows who the "Tom, Dick & Harry's" of the Akalis are, it would be better if these names come out from the horses' (Sukhbir Badal) mouth.

Pointing out the double standards of the BJP on the drug issue, the AAP MP said that on the one hand, some of the BJP leaders' admit drug as a serious issue, and on the other, it virtually gives "clean chit" to the state government on the issue.

Poll position

Senior political commentator Baljit Balli told Catch, "If the bio Sidhus joins AAP, there would be a radical change in the prevailing political scenario in the state. AAP is definitely an option available to Navjot Singh. It remains to be seen how the BJP handles his resignation in the Rajya Sabha."

His joining AAP would definitely be a shot in the arm for the party that is emerging as a serious contender for electoral victory in the state.

But AAP needs credible political faces and observers have said that the party may just present Navjot Singh as its chief ministerial candidate. Another point of view believes this could spell trouble internally for the party because the AAP leadership has so far maintained that the party's chief ministerial candidate would be someone from within the state and not an import.

Yet another point of view is that the couple may force the BJP to part ways with the Akalis and make Sidhu the party's face in Punjab. This, according to them, would help BJP's growth in the state in the long run as it will come out of the shadow of the Akalis.

There have been many anti-Akali voices piping up in the BJP recently. Which isn't surprising considering even Punjab BJP president Vijay Sampla registered his protest with the state government over the shoddy treatment meted out to both the union railways minister Suresh Prabhu and himself at a function in a village in Gurdaspur that was attended by chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.

Edited by Aleesha Matharu

More in Catch - Navjot Sidhu in Rajya Sabha: BJP's damage-control exercise

Nobody could have stopped Navjot Singh Sidhu from joining AAP, says wife