Above: Navjot Singh Sidhu

Though the Supreme Court has reserved its judgment in a case that is 30 years old, a conviction could lead to the Punjab minister for local government and tourism, Navjot Singh Sidhu disqualification

~By Vipin Pubby in Chandigarh

Former cricketer and Punjab minister for local government and tourism Navjot Singh Sidhu is on a weak wicket. The Supreme Court has taken up the appeal in an attempt to murder case involving him at a time when he is proving to be the biggest irritant of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.

No wonder Capt Singh is having a breather. The hearings have, at least temporarily, subdued the highly aggressive and vocal leader who had switched his loyalties from the BJP to the Congress on the eve of the assembly elections last year.

Though the chief minister has scotched speculations that Sidhu would resign or be asked to resign as a minister, he would have no choice if the apex court upholds his conviction. The Court has reserved its judgment after hearing both sides. A conviction would certainly lead to Sidhu’s disqualification as an MLA and consequently, the end of his political career.

DEADLY TIFF

The case pertains to a road rage incident in 1988 in Patiala when a young Sidhu and his friends beat up an elderly person, Gurnam Singh, over a tiff. The victim later succumbed to his injuries and a case was registered against Sidhu and his associates under Section 302 for murder. The trial court at Patiala acquitted him of the charges in 1999.

The State of Punjab appealed against the verdict in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. This Court reversed the order and convicted him in December 2006 under Section 304, IPC, for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment for three years.

Sidhu then moved the Supreme Court, which stayed the conviction and sentence and has now resumed hearings. It was during the process of hearing that the State of Punjab supported the judgment of the High Court and urged the Supreme Court to uphold the three-year jail sentence ordered by the High Court.

This was the same stand taken by the state government in the High Court in 2006 when Capt Singh was the chief minister. Sidhu was a BJP MP at that time. Government officials have been telling the media that the government could not have taken a U-turn on its earlier stand. Such a scenario could have led to much criticism and even adverse remarks from the Court itself. Besides, the case does not fall within the ambit of Section 321, CrPC, wherein the state government could decide to withdraw from prosecution and inform the Court. The present case has gone beyond that stage.

The apex court taking up this case again and the stand taken by the state government have apparently come as a shock to Sidhu. Those close to him say his grouse is that he was neither informed nor consulted before the hearing in the apex court. They say that Amarinder’s government had deliberately kept him in the dark.

THORN IN CM’S FLESH

Sidhu has emerged as a strident and vocal minister and has been also embarrassing the chief minister on certain issues. For instance, he had been repeatedly demanding action against former minister Bikram Singh Majithia for his alleged involvement with the drug mafia. He led about 40 MLAs who signed a petition demanding action even though the chief minister has been saying there is no evidence against him.

On another occasion, Sidhu had opposed the name of the Congress nominee for the post of mayor of Amritsar, the constituency which had elected him to the Lok Sabha. He had also expressed his opposition to certain other decisions of the government.

He is not the only one who is known to nurse ambitions to replace Capt Singh. Former minister Partap Singh Bajwa is a strident critic of the chief minister too. He and Manpreet Singh Badal are also in the race but Sidhu has been emerging as the main bête noire of the chief minister.

Sidhu had made his political debut in 2004 and had won three times from the Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency. However, he subsequently fell out with Majithia who had been holding considerable sway in the area with the backing of his brother-in-law, former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.

He subsequently resigned from the BJP and toyed with the idea of joining the Aam Aadmi Party before finally deciding to go with the Congress. His joining the party on the eve of assembly elections certainly boosted its prospects.

PLAYING SAFE

Capt Singh had been playing safe by saying that there was no question of asking Sidhu to resign. The question of the minister resigning, “merely because the state government had repeated its stand of 30 years in the case before the Supreme Court, did not arise,” he said.

Talking to the media, the chief minister said there “was neither any impediment in Sidhu’s induction into the cabinet nor in his continuation now, in view of the stay on his conviction”.

In a clever twist, Capt Singh ex-pressed the hope that the “judge would take cognisance of Sidhu’s contribution to the society and the country in deciding the case”, knowing fully well that the law does not permit this ground.

Replying to questions that the government had not supported the minister in the apex court, the chief minister said that unless the prosecution received new inputs, it was not legally possible for it to add a new element to its arguments. “Taking a U-turn from the stand taken by the government in the trial and high courts was not an option for the government,” he added.

Sidhu is known for his verbosity. He told the media that he would not share with it “whether I’m shocked or annoyed” and added that “whatever the verdict, I will alone bear the burden”. Asked about the government’s stand in the Supreme Court, Sidhu said that only the CM or the advocate general could comment on this. “I will not comment,” he reiterated.

There is no doubt that an adverse verdict would be a major setback to his  political career. He must be praying fervently for an acquittal which would enable him to say,“Thoko taali”.