Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Sidhu today said his entry into the Congress comes after nearly 70 visits by election strategist Prashant Kishor, who was helping prepare the party’s campaign ahead of the 2017 assembly polls in Punjab.
“Prashant Kishor met me at least 60 times and asked me to join Congress,” he told NDTV in an exclusive interview.
He said Mr Kishor was apprehensive about the party’s prospects and felt his joining would help swing a bigger chunk of the vote. “PK said Congress will not get more than 30-35 seats. If you (Sidhu) come, there will be a swing of 7-8 per cent,” he said. “Then brother called me,” he said.
In the assembly elections, Congress came to power by winning 77 out of 117 seats.
After weeks of talks with the Aam Aadmi Party, Mr Sidhu assumed office in January 2017. Mr Sidhu said the AAP chief had sent him ideologues as well and when they finally met, Arvind Kejriwal did not give him a party ticket for either house of Parliament and wanted him to campaign only for the party.
Mr Sidhu said it was Rahul Gandhi who got him on board for the Congress, promising loyalty to the Gandhi family “as long as I breathe”.
Prashant Kishor had quit his role as advisor to the Punjab chief minister last year – something Amarinder Singh stepped down as chief minister in September after a year-long clash with a section of legislators led by Mr. Sidhu. week ago.
Amarinder Singh, Mr Sidhu said today, was “insecure”. He said, “He never wanted anyone to stand by me, even a little bit. He opposed me when I came to Congress.”
Mr Sidhu, who apparently failed to become the “people’s choice” for the chief minister’s post this week, said if the Congress fails to win 60 seats in the assembly, it will be a complete matter of who will become the party’s candidate for chief minister. The question becomes redundant.
“If we have 60 MLAs, we will choose the CM. If we don’t have 60 MLAs, then everything changes. Whether someone else forms the government or a hung assembly is in the hands of God,” he said.
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