#Sidhu4Punjab chant online, but BJP may keep him sad for SAD happiness

BJP national president Amit Shah was earlier said to be interested in Sidhu getting a role in the Punjab unit, but sources said the party leadership was doing a rethink on the issue as promoting him would mean antagonising the Akalis by wading into “Jat politics”

After the SAD-BJP meeting and reiteration of their “solid” alliance, chances of former cricketer and three-time ex-MP of the BJP, Navjot Singh Sidhu, getting a prominent role in saffron party look bleak. Sidhu was reportedly in talks with the Aam Aadmi Party too, which is looking for a further spike in its fast-rising popularity graph in Punjab.

Navjot Singh Sidhu’s wife Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu, an MLA of the BJP from Amritsar-East, has recently even gone on to say that people should vote for the AAP if the BJP and SAD fought the 2017 Punjab elections together. (AFP/HT Photos)

BJP national president Amit Shah was earlier said to be interested in Sidhu getting a role in the Punjab unit, but sources said the party leadership was doing a rethink on the issue as promoting him would mean antagonising the Akalis by wading into “Jat politics”. Sidhu is known to be anti-Badal and has in fact brandished this as a positive aspect of his political persona even in the Haryana polls where the SAD and BJP were on opposite sides.

Meanwhile, #Sidhu4Punjab was among the top trends or topics in India on social networking and microblogging website Twitter. Many of the tweets were from pro-BJP Twitter handles, some of which are even followed by ministers and state BJP units.