Navjot Singh Sidhu will join Congress, contest from Amritsar (East): Wife

Congress leader Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu confirmed on Wednesday her husband and former BJP member of Parliament Navjot Singh Sidhu will join the grand old party “very soon” and contest the Punjab assembly elections from Amritsar (East) constituency.

Dr Sidhu said that the cricketer-turned-politician will be reaching Amritsar as soon as the ticket is announced, minutes after the Election Commission declared the dates for the assembly polls for the northern state.

Punjab will vote in a single phase on February 4 and the results will be out March 11.

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“Navjot Singh Sidhu is in regular touch with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and PPCC chief Captain Amarinder Singh. Various rounds of meetings have taken place with the top brass of the Congress. They are preparing an itinerary for Sidhu and whenever they say, Sidhu will join Congress,” she said.

Dr Sidhu, who has left her assembly seat for her husband, said the former cricketer will be campaigning throughout Punjab.

“The party high command and senior leadership are going ahead very cautiously and want to weed out the threat of rebel factor at an early stage. So before announcing another list, the party high command is talking to possible rebels and pacify them by showing surveys and other elements kept in mind by the party,” she said explaining the delay in the announcement from the Congress.

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Dr Sidhu, who won the Amritsar (East) constituency on a BJP ticket in 2012, joined the Congress some time back. She also made it clear that Sidhu couple will not contest the Lok Sabha election.

Congress MLA from Amritsar (West) Raj Kumar Verka also said that Captain Amarinder Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu will provide strength to the Congress party and ensure its victory in the 2017 polls.

A three-time MP from Amritsar, Sidhu’s political career took a downturn after a spat with the Parkash Singh Badal-led SAD — and the BJP denied him the ticket in 2014 and chose senior party leader Arun Jaitley. He was rehabilitated in the Rajya Sabha from which he resigned this year.

He was in talks with Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party but they failed to seal the deal.

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Sidhu then floated Awaaz-e-Punjab in September along with independent MLAs and brothers Balwinder Singh Bains and Simarjeet Singh Bains and former hockey captain Pargat Singh, sparking a buzz about a fourth front. But the forum disintegrated after the Bains brothers finalised an alliance with the AAP for the state assembly polls.

The Amritsar (East) segment is already flooded with posters of the Sidhu couple.