Sucha Singh Chhotepur rubbishes idea of Sidhu joining AAP

Aam Aadmi Party’s Punjab convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur on Saturday rubbished the possibility of BJP leader Navjot Singh Sidhu joining AAP and being projected as its chief ministerial candidate.

Addressing a press conference here, Chhotepur said, “It has been made clear by our party’s Punjab incharge Sanjay Singh that Sidhu has neither offered to join AAP, nor are we waiting to take him in the party. He is just trying to make a bugbear of AAP and projecting himself to gain a position in the minorities commission, just the way Capt Amarinder Singh did using AAP to gain the PPCC chief’s post,” said Chhotepur.

Launching a scathing attack against the SAD and Congress, he said the two parties were “hand-in-glove” and playing a “friendly match” through rally competitions in the state. He said Amarinder and Parkash Singh Badal were whipping up the political environment in the state with sharp attacks on each other to make it look as if they are the only two key players in the state. “The fact is that they both are scared of AAP, which will be the strongest player in the elections,” he said.

Reacting to a statement made by the chief minister about his closeness to Amarinder, Chhotepur said he was not a chela of anyone expect the guru and truth. “It is the SAD and Congress which are chela parties.”

“Both SAD and Congress have nurtured their own families and indulged in corruption. The Badal family had amassed huge properties while the names of family members of Captain (Amarinder Singh) having accounts in Swiss banks have also come to the fore,” Chhotepur said.

He said Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was expected to visit Punjab in February. “Kejriwal will be requested to take a meeting of volunteers after Maghi Mela in January. Then a big conference will be held in Punjab in February in which Kejriwal will be invited,” he said, adding that Kejriwal would stay in Punjab after the elections are announced in the state and candidates are finalised. “After April, AAP MLAs and ministers will start visiting Punjab in view of the upcoming polls,” he said. He claimed that 26 lakh people had joined AAP in the state as part of its recruitment drive.

YAD leader joins AAP

Youth Akali Dal Punjab general secretary Judgejeet Singh, who is also the president of the Samana Truck Union, joined AAP along with his supporters in Chhotepur’s presence at the Press Club here. He said deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal was in the “habit” of listening only to the halqa incharges even when they were wrong instead of the workers who were sincere. “I am quitting SAD because it does not value its workers,” he said.