punjab: Sidhu bats for INDIA bloc amid Punjab Cong’s opposition to allying with AAP

Amid his party’s opposition to an alliance with the ruling AAP in Punjab, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday said INDIA’s opposition bloc stands like a “tall mountain” and its greatness will not be affected by a storm here and there. “Punjab should understand that this is an election to elect the prime minister of India and not the chief minister of Punjab,” he said in a post on ‘X’.

The cricketer-turned-politician’s statement followed statements by several Punjab Congress leaders, including state unit chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa, opposing an alliance to Aam Aadmi Party in the state before 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

“The alliance of INDIA stands like a high mountain … a storm here and there will not affect its Splendor !!! Any attempt to sabotage and breach this shield to safeguard our Democracy will be futile, ” he tweeted.

Sidhu’s statement came days after the Warring-led Punjab Congress leadership called the arrest of party MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira in a drug case in 2015 a “political vendetta”.

The arrest of the Bholath lawmaker has widened the rift between the Congress and the AAP in Punjab.

Since both parties are members of the INDIA bloc, Congress leaders in Punjab had earlier indicated that they were against any kind of alliance with the ruling AAP in the state. On September 1, the INDIA bloc at its meeting in Mumbai decided to fight the 2024 Lok Sabha polls collectively “as far as possible”, insisting that seat-sharing arrangements among states be finalized at the earliest a “collaborative spirit of give-and-take”.

Leaders of the opposition coalition have set up a 14-member coordination committee that will serve as the alliance’s highest decision-making body and initiate the seat-sharing process. It also showed confidence that the new front could easily defeat the BJP.