Voters in Amritsar East hope Navjot Sidhu will visit them

Neeraj Bagga

Amritsar, April 29

Cricket fans are enthused that they are once again being able to listen to the incredible power-packed commentary and catchy one-liners of Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu while watching the IPL matches. However, the voters of Amritsar East assembly segment feel that they are not fortunate enough. They have been waiting for the Congress leader for whom 32,929 of them had voted in the 2022 assembly election (standing second as the AAP won the seat) and voted him to power in the 2017 election. He did not visit them after the 2022 assembly election.

Party workers and a section of leaders from the Amritsar East assembly segment are irked at Sidhu for not taking stock of them after the 2022 assembly election. They say that in his absence, they have to answer uncomfortable queries from party workers and people.

Most city residents have not forgotten his oft-repeated one-liner delivered in his inimitable style, swearing not to leave ‘Guru Ki Nagari’, while being the Amritsar MP. Listening to his commentary and watching him in the media attending political meetings from the corridors of his plush residence in Patiala reminded them of his visits to their undeveloped lanes once. A large tract of his assembly seat falls in the slum areas.

Jeet Singh Bhatia, three-time councillor from a ward in the Amritsar East assembly segment, said answering uncomfortable queries from party workers and voters of the area is a gigantic task. He still vividly remembers that Sidhu was instrumental in prodding them to join the BJP. Earlier, his family had been associated with the Congress for decades. He pointed out that Sidhu did not constitute a reliable group of leaders in Amritsar since he made his debut into politics in 2004 when he had contested as a BJP candidate from the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat.

Saurabh Madaan, son of a former councillor whose ward falls in the Amritsar East constituency, said party workers and supporters from the segment were hassled and Sidhu should occasionally pay a visit to enquire about their plight. “It does not matter whether he can resolve their grievances or not as he is out of power. Watching him on television and social media besides listening to his commentary reminded the voters about his absence from the constituency.” He said since Sidhu has not enquired about their whereabouts after the 2022 assembly elections, they have to face the people in his absence.

Sidhu’s close aide Shalinder Singh Shally, a former councillor, said he along with former Amritsar Improvement Trust Chairman Daman Deep Singh had recently attended a meeting with Sidhu at his residence in Patiala. He asserted that “Sidhu will canvass for Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Congress nominee from the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat and is likely to visit the city at the fag end of this month”. He asserted that there was no use visiting the assembly segment for him as the Congress was not in power, adding that the problems of the area are to be resolved by the sitting MLA who belongs to the AAP.

Daman Deep said he had been meeting voters of the Amritsar East assembly segment on behalf of Sidhu. He assured that he would soon visit the constituency.