Former cricketer and Punjab politician Navjot Singh Sidhu seems to have a lot of similarities with South Indian power star Pawan Kalyan insofar as politics are concerned.
Sidhu, 52, who resigned as a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha in July this year and formally quit the BJP earlier this month to launch his own political outfit Awaaz-e-Punjab, after his talks with Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to join Aam Admi Party (AAP) had fallen through. Sidhu accused that Kejriwal wants "only yes men."
Now, Sidhu suddenly announced that his Awaaz-e-Punjaab is not a political party but just a political forum which would not contest elections because he does not want to split anti-establishment votes.
It clearly shows that Sidhu has no guts to contest elections on his own because his party does not have the financial strength and cadre base. Sources say he is likely to renew negotiations with Arvind Kejriwal.
In a way, Sidhu looks similar to Pawan Kalyan, who also floated his Jana Sena Party before 2014 elections, but did not dare contest elections because his party had no organisational structure, cadre base and monetary strength.
So, he played a second fiddle to the TDP-BJP combine and helped it to come to power. And like Sidhu, it would be better if Pawan merges his party with the TDP or the BJP if he wants to survive politically.
