Editorial: Navjot Singh Sidhu’s antics
Blurb: It is time Congress leadership took a tough stand on dissidents and focused on pressing public issues
The unfolding political spectacle in Punjab, following the sudden and inexplicable resignation of the State Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, comes as a major embarrassment to the party’s central leadership which went out of the way to placate the maverick cricketer-turned-politician. After extracting his pound of flesh by using his proximity with the Gandhi siblings and ensuring the exit of his bête noir Captain Amarinder Singh, he sprang a surprise on the party by quitting his post in what appears to be yet another impulsive move. Intriguingly, the central leadership was kept in the dark about the decision. Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who chose to place their bets on Sidhu even at the cost of sacrificing a veteran incumbent CM are now left red-faced. What stands compromised in the entire episode is the faith reposed by the Congress leadership in him as the new PCC president. It is clear that Sidhu, dubbed by his detractors as a ‘misguided missile’, was upset because he did not have his way in the selection of ministers and allocation of portfolios in the Charanjit Singh Channi cabinet and appointments to senior administrative posts. The crisis in the ruling party will only deepen further if the central leadership keeps entertaining the antics of Sidhu and meeting his unreasonable demands. It is time the Congress leadership took a tough stand on such perpetual dissidents and focused on pressing public issues in poll-bound Punjab. Already, the party’s image has taken a severe beating because of constant internal squabbles.
A desert storm is already brewing in the Rajasthan unit of the Congress with the campaign for the ouster of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot gaining momentum. Here too, the party leadership is reportedly keen on rewarding the dissident leader Sachin Pilot for his loyalty and faith in the Gandhi siblings. Undermining the authority of its own chief ministers by openly promoting and elevating the dissident leaders has been an old tactic that may have been successful for the Congress in the past but has become its undoing now. The culture of subjugating the regional leaders to the whims of the high command has been the bane of the grand old party. As a result, strong and assertive regional leaders, who speak out their minds, have been made to feel stifled. The Punjab imbroglio has once again highlighted this problem and put the party on a sticky wicket. The larger malaise afflicting the Congress is organisational management and leadership. The recent defeats in Assam, West Bengal and Kerala have further demoralised the cadre. Unfortunately, in all the three States where the Congress is in power on its own—Punjab, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan—, it is plagued by bitter infighting.