In jolt to AAP, why CM Mann’s friend of 36 years joins Congress before Punjab polls
Their friendship began at a college in Sunam in 1990, long before Bhagwant Mann became Punjab Chief Minister and Manjit Singh Sidhu became his Officer on Special Duty (OSD).
More than three decades later, after years of working together in politics and government, Sidhu has chosen a different political path, joining the Congress on Tuesday. “I felt discarded,” Sidhu said, insisting that the political parting would not end a friendship spanning 36 years.
“Bhagwant Mann preferred to stick to his chair, but I preferred to stand with Punjab,” Sidhu said, explaining his decision to quit the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
“I felt the CM was helpless. It was not about positions. I don’t want to contest. If I wanted to be an MLA, I would have contested the 2022 Assembly election,” he said.
For the Congress, Sidhu’s entry could prove a significant gain as the party prepares for the 2027 Assembly elections and seeks to sharpen its challenge to the ruling AAP.
A former journalist who spent years managing the AAP’s media operations and remained close to Mann, Sidhu brings with him an understanding of the party’s functioning and leadership.
Sidhu, however, maintained that his decision was not about exploiting his proximity to the Chief Minister or using his knowledge of the AAP to his advantage.
Sidhu has long been regarded as a member of Mann’s inner circle. Even after Mann became the CM, the two continued to travel together on personal trips. Their association, Sidhu said, went well beyond politics.
“We have stayed, played and travelled together, and even organised and managed each other’s weddings. We were together for 36 years. If both sides value a relationship, such friendships do not end,” he said.
Sidhu first met Mann at Shaheed Udham Singh College in Sunam in 1990. “Mann was 17 and I was 18. I was his senior. We were a troika with singer-actor Karamjit Anmol also being a part of it,” Sidhu recalled.
Their friendship endured as they moved from college life to public life, through Mann’s rise as a comedian and political campaigner and, eventually, his emergence as the AAP’s face in Punjab. Sidhu was not merely a friend watching from the sidelines. He became part of the AAP’s political and organisational machinery in the state, handling media coordination and later heading its media operations.
After a 15-year career in mainstream journalism, Sidhu left the profession ahead of the 2017 Assembly elections. He subsequently served as the AAP’s state media co-coordinator and state media head, besides becoming a member of its state political affairs committee.
After the AAP’s victory in the 2022 Assembly elections, Mann appointed Sidhu as his OSD for public relations in January 2023. He was removed from the post later that year and subsequently moved to the party’s legislative set-up. At the time of his exit from the party, he was working as office secretary at the AAP legislators’ office in the Punjab Assembly.
The shift from the Chief Minister’s Office to the Assembly had already marked a change in their professional association. Sidhu, however, said he hoped the political separation would not affect their personal bond.
“From my side, I will try my best that this friendship is not eclipsed by our political paths. I swear by my values. I will not take any path which is unethical. I do not hit below the belt. It is the AAP that does not value friendships. They use and throw. We don’t have any secrets. Do you think the CM has any secrets? Even if we had, I would not have leaked them to anyone,” he said.
While joining the Congress, Sidhu said he had been waiting for the right opportunity to pursue “healthy politics” after distancing himself from the AAP. Leaving a party he had helped build, he said, had not been an easy decision.
For the Congress, Sidhu’s entry comes at a time when it is looking to strengthen its organisational network ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections. Whether his experience of the AAP’s internal functioning and years of working closely with Mann will translate into a political advantage for the Congress remains to be seen.
