‘Lack of clarity on Pargat’s seat delaying Sidhu’s joining’

JALANDHAR: Navjot Singh Sidhu has delayed joining the Congress because the party is not willing to field the former cricketer’s political ally and hockey icon Pargat Singh from Jalandhar Cantonment, a source privy to discussions between the former BJP MP and the party has said said.
The source said Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh was still backing the candidature of Jalandhar District Congress Committee president Jagbir Singh Brar from Jalandhar Cantonment and wanted Pargat, who represents the seat at present, to shift to Nakodar.However, Pargat, a former SAD leader who had joined the Congress along with Sidhu’s wife Navjot Kaur on November 28, has not accepted Amarinder’s demand.
Sources close to Sidhu said he had made it clear to the Congress that it would first have to announce Pargat from the seat of his choice, as the commitment had been made to the hockey legend, and only then he would join the party. “When poll strategist Prashant Kishor met Sidhu to talk about his joining, he told him right away that the first party should announce Pargat’s seat and then he would join,” said the source.
Amarinder had on Wednesday claimed that the delay in Sidhu’s joining was due to his professional commitments.
Pargat had earlier made it clear that he would contest from Jalandhar Cantonment only. Sources said the party could not shift Pargat to Nakodar without his consent, as his candidature from the seat was promised by Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.
Sources closed to Sidhu said guarding Pargat’s seat had become a personal and political issue for the former cricketer, and he wanted the Congress high command to honour its commitment, especially because he and Pargat had not demanded a ticket for anybody else. Pargat had stood firmly with Sidhu even as independent MLAs Bains brothers, Balwinder and Simarjit, had joined hands with AAP without first informing Sidhu and Pargat even as they were negotiating with AAP on behalf of the Awaz E Punjab, a front floated by all of them jointly. Later, Bains brothers tried to persuade Pargat to join them for the alliance with AAP, but he refused.
Jagbir Brar, a first cousin of Manpreet Badal, had become the SAD MLA from Jalandhar Cantonment in 2007. He later joined PPP and then joined the Congress a few weeks before the 2012 polls. The Congress gave him the ticket from Jalandhar Cantonment, but he lost.