He winds up his speech on the note that he is merely a soldier of Prime Minister Vajpayee and a vote for Vajpayee would be a vote for development.

His next stop is the Standard Public School on the Qadian-Amritsar road. Little children greet the cricketing star. Many girls had waited close to two hours to have a glimse of the man. Teachers of the school, like their students, grin when Sidhu signs autographs for them.

"Amritsar goes to the polls on May 10. But I can tell you that Sidhu has already won the battle," says Surjit Singh who runs a cycle shop, as the Sardar turns towards him, pats him on his back and gets into his car.