New Delhi: Down but not out! There is still a chance that former cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu will fight the byelection to the Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency as a BJP candidate.
Only that the Supreme Court has made him and his party wait till the last day for filing of nomination papers on January 17. The byelection to the constituency was necessitated after Sidhu resigned as an MP from the seat following his conviction by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
While the bail granted to Sidhu by the Apex Court meant a reprieve for both Sidhu and the BJP, the party has still chosen to keep its cards close to the chest on the issue on its candidate for the byelection.
The BJP has not yet officially named Sidhu as its nominee for the bypoll. For, an adverse verdict from the Supreme Court on Sidhu's appeal could turn its poll cart and also hurt the party's poll prospects.
Sidhu has appealed in the top court, seeking a suspension of his conviction and sentence so that he can contest the bypolls to the Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency, which he had vacated last month following his conviction on December 1.
The BJP has indicated that it may field its former MP again. Party General Secretary Arun Jaitley said, "it may either be Sidhu or his wife Navjot Kaur." Jaitley also hastened to add that the option of fielding a local leader, too, has been kept open at this point.
But the party will definitely wait till January 17 to hear the Supreme Court judgment before taking any call on the party nominee. Sidhu was sentenced to three years of imprisonment in an 18-year-old roadrage case on December 1.
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