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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is running the government in most of the states of North India but Punjab is a state from where the party does not have a single Lok Sabha MP. In this state, BJP is seen as a Hindu party and its influence is only in urban areas. Till 2020, BJP contested elections in alliance with Shiromani Akali Dal but got very few seats. Now BJP is dreaming of forming the government in the state and the party is looking for influential leaders. The party is eyeing Sikh leaders so that the tag of a Hindu party can be removed from the party and the tag of a Punjab party can be given. Recently, the name of Harbhajan Singh, who has been a popular cricketer, is also included among the MPs from Aam Aadmi Party. In the coming days, the party may present him as a popular Sikh face in Punjab.

Bharatiya Janata Party in Punjab wants to leave its influence in the 2027 assembly elections. Amit Shah has even claimed to form the government on his own. In such a situation, the party is breaking the leaders of other parties and adding people from the social sector to the party. Navjot Singh Siddu was once a big Sikh face of the party but later he left the party and joined Congress politics and now he is out of active politics. However, BJP has not been able to field any Sikh leader in his place so far and many experiments have also failed. In such a situation, will Harbhajan Singh be able to replace Navjot Singh Siddu?

BJP has hope from Harbhajan

BJP’s search for a Sikh face in Punjab may end with Harbhajan Singh. Many reasons account for this. Navjot Singh Sidhu had given a good lead to the party and the main reason behind it was his popularity and art of convincing people. Harbhajan Singh has also been a cricketer like Sidhu. He is very popular in Punjab and BJP was looking for a popular face like him.

The negative point with Harbhajan Singh is that even though he became a Rajya Sabha MP, he did not work actively for AAP. He also does not make political statements and is counted among the leaders who speak very little in comparison to Sidhu. Politically, he has never been embroiled in controversies, hence he can be a good option for BJP. Being a Sikh and on the basis of his popularity, he can strengthen BJP in Punjab.

Harbhajan Singh may be a face for BJP but it will not be easy to present him as a face in the party. Harbhajan Singh has not yet proved himself in politics. He was sent to Rajya Sabha by AAP but he has no hold on the ground as a politician. Apart from this, he is also not playing an active role in politics. Harbhajan Singh is a part of the Hindi commentary panel in IPL 2026 and is maintaining distance from politics. Till now he has not expressed his desire to do active politics. There are many leaders from outside in the Bharatiya Janata Party with whom the stereotypical leaders of the party are upset or angry. If the party projects Harbhajan as the main face of the party, then the stereotypical leaders of the party as well as senior leaders from Congress and other parties may become uneasy.

BJP has already done many experiments

This is not the first time that BJP has placed bets on a popular face in Punjab. Even before this, the party has included many Sikh faces from other parties in the party. BJP had played a big bet in Punjab by bringing Sunny Deol into politics and he also got victory in his Lok Sabha seat Gurdaspur. However, Sunny Deol could not fulfill the expectations of BJP. Even during his Lok Sabha tenure, he remained busy in films and his activity among the public was also less. There is resentment among the people regarding this and he did not even contest elections in 2024 and kept distance from politics. BJP’s plan regarding him failed.

Amarinder Singh was one of the prominent faces in Punjab politics for decades. After the victory of Congress in 2017, he was made the Chief Minister but due to factionalism in the party, the party removed him from the post of CM before the 2022 elections and after that he formed his own party. After the election defeat he joined BJP. However, due to increasing age, he too is no longer able to play an active role in politics. His wife herself lost the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He is also not happy with the party leadership. Manpreet Singh Badal had once emerged as a big face in Punjab politics but after joining BJP, he too could not do anything special. In 2024, he was badly defeated in the by-election from Gidderbaha seat.

At present, if we look at Sikh leaders, BJP has only leaders like Captain Amarinder Singh and Ravneet Bittu. As Captain Amarinder has come of age, Ravneet Bittu is the only turban-wearing leader left whom the people of Punjab know well. He comes from a big political family, has been an MP many times and is currently a minister in the central government.

HS can bet on Phulka

In Punjab, BJP can also bet on senior lawyer HS Phulka. HS Phoolka has been fighting for the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. He has recently joined BJP. HS Phulka can play an important role in improving the anti-Sikh image of BJP and establishing it as a party of Sikhs. However, he may prove to be a weak candidate due to age. Apart from this, leaders like Vikramjit Singh Sahni, former MLA Kewal Singh Dhillon, Harjeet Singh Grewal, Fatehjang Singh Bajwa, who left Aam Aadmi Party and joined BJP along with Raghav Chadha, are among the Sikh faces of the party.