Navjot Singh Sidhu adopted a blow-hot-blow-cold strategy vis a vis Congress leadership and the Charanjit Singh Channi government in Punjab on Saturday, tweeting he will “stand by” the Gandhis but saying nothing about withdrawing his resignation as PCC chief.

By not withdrawing his resignation, Sidhu is sticking to his demand for a coordination panel to review recent appointments made by the Channi government and a special legal officer – parallel to the new advocate general whom he is opposing – to deal with sacrilege cases, Congress insiders said.

“Will uphold principles of Gandhiji & Shastriji… Post or no post, will stand by Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. Let all negative forces try to defeat me, but with every ounce of positive energy (I) will make Punjab win, Punjabiyat (universal brotherhood) win and every Punjabi win!”, Sidhu tweeted on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Congress circles see two clever plots in his deft tweet. Speaking nothing about withdrawing his resignation as Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president was Sidhu’s way of indicating he expected the party and the government to first respond to his demands, , they said.

Secondly, he talked about using his energy to make ‘Punjab’ and ‘Punjabiyat’ win…but said nothing about making Congress win.

“He (Sidhu) seems to be advertising his personal closeness and loyalty to the Gandhi siblings more than about his loyalty to the Congress,” a Punjab Congress leader said on condition of anonymity. “That is a clever way of working on certain people as he did in the past.”