Punjab Assembly elections 2017: So, is Sidhu the CM candidate for Congress?

As the Punjab unit of the Congress prepares for the upcoming Assembly elections, it has already readied a list of 77 candidates for the 117-member Assembly, with Navjot Singh Sidhu among them. However, the cricketer-turned-politician has not yet formally joined the party, raising eyebrows and doubts in the minds of many.

The Congress has been losing the plot in several poll-bound states, including Punjab, where the release of its manifesto was apparently delayed because party vice-president Rahul Gandhi was "travelling" – his euphemism for going on a vacation at a time when the Congress' rivals were preparing for Assembly elections in the five poll-bound states of Goa, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

And now, the Congress looks like it is not entirely prepared for the elections in Punjab with no chief-ministerial candidate, and even then their best bet being Navjot Singh Sidhu, the cricketer-turned-politician who has often been slammed for not showing up in Parliament because of his "professional commitments" – read: appearances in TV programmes like The Kapil Sharma Show.

However, things may now be looking up for the Congress in Punjab, with state unit chief Captain Amarinder Singh saying that Sidhu was ready to join the party, and that his entrance into the Congress would be unconditional. Sidhu is expected to be a big catch for the Congress, because he had earlier been nominated to the Rajya Sabha on a BJP ticket, and his joining the Congress is being seen as a big snub to the saffron party.

Singh told reporters on Wednesday: "Sidhu would be the party's candidate for Amritsar East, as announced by his wife (Navjot Kaur Sidhu). The delay in his joining was on account of his professional commitments, which he wanted to conclude before getting into the election gear."

Sidhu, it may be recalled, had been tipped to join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after he resigned from the Rajya Sabha and left the BJP. Then, there was news that he would launch his own party to contest the Punjab Assembly elections. However, he surprised all when it emerged that he was joining the Congress.