Chandigarh: Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu has determined to return to the commentator’s field for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) event, a transfer that guidelines out his energetic participation within the Lok Sabha election marketing campaign for the Congress. Star Sports made the official announcement Tuesday morning, which Sidhu reposted on X (previously Twitter).
A smart man as soon as stated, “Hope is the biggest ‘tope’”
And this smart man, the nice @sherryontopp himself, has joined our Incredible StarForged! 👏
Don’t miss his unbelievable commentary (and gajab one-liners) in #IPLOnStar – STARTS MAR 22, 6:30 PM onwards, LIVE on Star Sports Network! pic.twitter.com/BjmFq9OKQ4
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) March 19, 2024
Sidhu has made it clear that he is not going to be contesting the elections. The IPL matches are scheduled to start on 22 March and can proceed until 26 May, which is able to preserve Sidhu busy until nearly the top of the overall election.
Voting for the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab will happen within the seventh part on 1 June. The Congress is but to declare any candidate for these 13 seats of which it received 8 in 2019.
Sidhu, the previous Punjab Congress chief has the doubtful credit score of operating aground the get together within the state, on condition that his rebel in opposition to former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh had a cascading impact on the get together’s fortunes within the 2022 Assembly elections. Amarinder was changed and give up the Congress, which is among the many causes that led to its decimation within the polls. The AAP swept the state with 92 seats and the Congress was decreased to a mere 18 within the 117-member House.
The upcoming Lok Sabha elections pose an enormous check for a weakened Congress, which has seen lots of its leaders change loyalty to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Sidhu’s resolution to return to cricket commentary is being seen in Congress circles as a digital snub to the get together excessive command that didn’t promote him within the Punjab Congress after the electoral debacle. Sidhu, nonetheless, nonetheless makes use of his picture with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as his profile image on X.
He did, nonetheless, lock horns with the state unit of the get together after he was eliminated as Punjab PCC chief following the result of the 2022 Assembly elections. Sidhu himself misplaced in Amritsar East.
Starting in May 2022, he served 10 months in Patiala jail after the Supreme Court convicted him of voluntarily inflicting harm in a decades-old accident case and sentenced him to one-year of rigorous imprisonment.
Granted remission 10 months right into a 1-yr sentence in highway rage case, Navjot Sidhu to stroll out of jail tomorrow
Upon his launch from jail, supported by a handful of senior leaders, Sidhu expressed open rebel in opposition to the present state Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Leader of the Opposition within the Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa.
Punjab Congress places up united face, however jury nonetheless out on Sidhu’s equation with Warring, Channi
Sidhu and his supporters have hardly ever participated in any programme of the get together in Punjab for over a 12 months now.
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While Sidhu maintained a non-cooperative method with the state unit, he ran parallel programmes and organised rallies as a present of power. Despite all of this, he maintained a conducive relationship with the get together’s nationwide management.
Cong chief Navjot Sidhu holds one other rally in Bathinda, assaults AAP govt
He supported Delhi when the excessive command determined to hitch fingers with the ruling AAP for the Lok Sabha polls – which most within the state unit vehemently opposed.
The former cricketer additionally flaunted his “closeness” to the get together excessive command, searching for an viewers with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, every time the state unit criticised him or complained in opposition to him.
“Although Sidhu was not made the star campaigner of the party when Assembly elections in four states took place last year, he was expected to campaign across India in the Lok Sabha elections,” stated a Punjab Congress chief.
Sidhu can be returning to worldwide cricket commentary after nearly a decade. He performed for India for practically 20 years earlier than retiring and becoming a member of politics. He joined the BJP in 2004 however switched to the Congress in 2017.
For a quick interval, he even toyed with the thought of becoming a member of AAP however a mutually acceptable association with Arvind Kejriwal didn’t materialise.
The 60-year-old is massively in style for his one-liners and recitation of Urdu couplets. Star Sports whereas saying the transfer wrote on X :
A smart man as soon as stated, “Hope is the biggest ‘tope’”
And this smart man, the nice @sherryontopp himself, has joined our Incredible StarForged! 👏
Don’t miss his unbelievable commentary (and gajab one-liners) in #IPLOnStar – STARTS MAR 22, 6:30 PM onwards, LIVE on Star Sports Network! pic.twitter.com/BjmFq9OKQ4
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) March 19, 2024
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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