'Can A Whistle Play Symphony?' Sidhu's Strong Hint, Over To Rahul Gandhi

Chandigarh: Navjot Singh Sidhu, the former cricketer, who was a big part of the winning Congress team in Punjab, offered one of his famous Sidhu-isms to explain whether he expects a big role in the new government: "No one can whistle a symphony; it takes an orchestra to play."

Mr Sidhu, 53, aspires to be Deputy Chief Minister - and his analogy was intended to underscore his expectations, though he followed protocol by adding, "Captain Amarinder is a great leader."

Captain Amarinder Singh is the man who won Punjab back from the Congress on his 75th birthday, pushing the Akali Dal-BJP combine into third place, and defying expectations of a close fight from Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Today, Captain, as he is known, said that he will meet Congress boss Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday  - and that alone will decide Mr Sidhu's role.

Till September, Mr Sidhu was a leader, though an angry one, of the BJP. His falling out with his party began in 2014, when he was forced to surrender his Lok Sabha constituency of Amritsar for Arun Jaitley, who lost the election and is now Finance Minister. Mr Sidhu was compensated by being made a member of the Rajya Sabha, though he made it clear that as a peace offering, that did not meet his expectation.

After ejecting from the BJP, he negotiated a possible entry into AAP with Mr Kejriwal, but the talks flamed out reportedly because he wanted a package deal - big roles for himself and his wife Navjot Kaur, who was a BJP state legislator.

Mr Sidhu -a huge crowd-puller - was finally caught for the Congress by its strategist Prashant Kishor, who devised an innovative "Punjab Da Captain" campaign for the presumptive Chief Minister.

The Congress won 77 of the state's 117 seats after a decade out of power. The ruling Akali-BJP combine were decimated, with 18 seats between them. AAP placed second with 22 seats.