New Delhi: After remaining nearly dormant ever since the announcement of the Punjab assembly election results, the Congress leadership is gradually getting back to work with its former state president Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Sidhu is still trying to hold the reins of the party even as he was asked by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to put down his papers following the embarrassing performance of the party.
Resuming his political activities, as one of the opposition leaders now, Sidhu fiercely raised his voice against inflation and rising fuel prices during a protest in Amritsar.
Accompanied by an array of Congress leaders including former Deputy Chief Minister OP Soni who had also lost in the recently concluded assembly elections along with other sitting MLAs. Sidhu censured Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Central government for allegedly failing to check the inflation which, he said, had hit the poor hardest and not the 5% of the riches of India which was unaffected by the price rise.
Two days earlier, Sidhu visited the house of a slain Dalit Congress worker Iqbal Singh in his native village Kassoana in Zira tehsil of Ferozpur district to express sympathy to the bereaved family.
Reportedly, Iqbal Singh was beaten to death by three persons having an inclination toward Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). “Justice delayed is justice denied, culprits (AAP goons) should be booked and arrested immediately)", tweeted Sidhu after meeting the family. He said he had also taken up the issue of the death of Iqbal Sigh with the district administration and demanded immediate arrest of the culprits besides demanding a government job for the victim’s family.
The Congress high command is yet to appoint a new Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president but Sidhu appears to be taking his chances as he continues to publicly claim to be a foot soldier of the party who abides by the high command’s decisions.
Though Congress has been reduced to an insignificant force in the state after plummeting to just 18 seats from earlier 77 seats, its resurgence holds the key to the political future of Congress leadership who have started recovering from their political carriers' disastrous setback.
