‘Jittega Punjab, Jittegi Congress’ rally: Navjot Sidhu all set to address 4th rally in Moga

Former Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu is all set to hold a rally in Moga on Sunday, his fourth in last two months despite the objections by frontline party leaders who called Sidhu’s outreach as an act of indiscipline.

Under the banner of ‘Jittega Punjab, Jittegi Congress’ catchphrase, former cricketer-turned-politician has held three rallies, including two in Bathinda and one in Hoshiarpur, without consulting the state unit.

The Moga rally is being organised by former district president of the party Maheshinder Singh who joined the Congress before the 2017 Assembly polls. He was the sitting MLA of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) from Baghapurana at that time. SAD had denied ticket to Maheshinder and he was appointed district Congress president in 2019.

The local party unit in Moga has already distanced itself from the event, claiming it to be ‘Sidhu’s solo event and they are not invited’.

Moga party in-charge Malvika Sood Sachar, who unsuccessfully contested the 2022 Assembly polls, openly opposed the rally and asked Congress workers not to participate in the rally, terming it a ‘personal event’.

“We have not received any invitation for the event. They have not even invited the district president, how can we go to the event without any invitation? This is a personal event, not a party programme. No senior Congress leader is going to attend it. The people outside of the Moga assembly segment are organising the event. They have not even taken Halka incharge in the loop. They have put up posters of the rally with my picture without consulting me. They are just trying to confuse people,” Sachar said.

Ruffled by Sidhu’s solo political outreach, state leaders recently raised the issue with Congress’ Punjab affairs in-charge Devender Yadav and asked him to rein in former state Congress chief whose rallies are seen as an attempt to revive his political fortunes since his defeat in the 2022 assembly polls.

In all of Sidhu’s rallies no one from the state top leadership, including Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Legislature Party leader Partap Singh Bajwa and other senior leaders, were present at the venue. Warring had said that party programmes in the Congress are held in consultation with the state unit chiefs, while Bajwa asked Sidhu not to hold his ‘separate akhara’ and advised him to speak on the party platform.

Yadav had met Sidhu in Chandigarh and informed him that the rallies were prior programmes. The former cricketer had said that ‘discipline’ should not imply different things for different people. Yadav had said that discipline was important and that in the coming time, action would be taken against whosoever breaks discipline.

Congress district president Sukhjit Singh Kaka Lohgarh also confirmed that he was not going to attend the event. “I have not received any communication regarding the event from party channels. The party high command should look into the matter,” he added.