Sidhu conviction will upset Akali-BJP alliance in Punjab poll run-up

Chandigarh -- The conviction of cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu Friday for a 1988 death is the biggest blow to the Shiromani Akali Dal and Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) alliance in the run-up to the Punjab assembly polls slated early next year.

Sidhu's conviction for the death of a Patiala resident in a street scuffle there in 1988 could not have come at a worse time for the Akali-BJP tie-up. His sentencing will be on Dec 6.

The Akali-BJP combine and the ruling Congress are already in full poll mode for the elections slated for February-March.

The alliance was giving a tough time to the Congress and Sidhu was being projected by the BJP as their face in the Sikh-dominated state.

Sidhu, the sitting BJP MP from Amritsar, is a celebrated cricket commentator and expert. He won from Amritsar in May 2004, trouncing veteran R.L. Bhatia, who is now the governor of Kerela.

The BJP hardly has a big name among its leaders in Punjab, and Sidhu - a national figure - aptly fitted the bill. Belonging to the dominant Sikh community, he suited the Hindu-nationalist party even more.

At most of the big Akali-BJP rallies in recent months, Sidhu was rubbing shoulders with Akali supremo Parkash Singh Badal and top BJP national leaders. His oratory and one-liners were enough to keep alive gatherings at political rallies.

Sidhu was being counted among upcoming younger Punjab leaders along with Badal's son Sukhbir Badal.

The Akali-BJP combine was also propping Sidhu's name as a probable candidate from Patiala assembly seat to contest against sitting Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. Sidhu hails from Patiala city and is quite popular there as well as in the rest of Punjab.

The high court judgement has spoilt the BJP-Akali party. Since Sidhu could face sentencing for up to 10 years, it does not augur well for the combine ahead of the Punjab polls.

At the national level, the BJP was gunning for the United Progressive Alliance government in the last two days over the conviction of former central coal minister Shibu Soren in the 1994 murder of his personal secretary.

Sidhu's conviction has already put the embarrassed BJP on the back foot. He was convicted of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under section 304 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He was accused of causing the death of Patiala resident Gurnam Singh in a street scuffle there in 1988. A trial court in Patiala had acquitted him in September 1999.