July 17, 2026

Punjab: Sidhu Will Continue To Pressurize Channi

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-11-06 04:34:23

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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

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Navjot Singh Sidhu has finally taken back his resignation as Punjab PCC chief. But as is his wont, he has put the high command and the state chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi in a fix by adding a rider that he will resume office only after a new advocate general is appointed in place of A P S Deol. But that is a problem as Channi has still to accept Deol's resignation leading to the belief that he is not willing to remove Deol. The events point to another round of confrontation between Channi and Sidhu.

Sidhu wants Deol removed as the advocate general had, in his criminal lawyer avatar earlier, defended some accused in the Guru Granth Sahib sacrilege case, something that Sidhu is very agitated about. One thinks that at least on this point, Sidhu is not going to concede an inch and if Channi also stands his ground, the situation will get uglier.

The Congress, it seems, has set up a huge problem for itself by creating two power centres. The chief minister's power comes from the constitutional office he holds. But Sidhu's power comes from the party and is controlled by the high command. Since Sidhu is known to be an inflexible person and often thinks his line is the best line and should be followed by all, no chief minister is going to tolerate his daily interference in governance. It would have been better if the party had made Sidhu the chief minister.

But the political move of making a Dalit chief minister in a state that has a huge percentage of Dalit voters, as well as avoid the pulls and pressures of the many Congress factions in Punjab made the high command settle for Channi. The differences between Sidhu and Channi are not going to end even if a new advocate general is appointed. Sidhu has an agenda and he is not going to sit still unless all his demands (and new ones will crop up with alarming frequency) are met. This is going to work against the Congress leading to the elections in the state in a few months from now.