Sidhu quits as BJP Rajya Sabha MP amid joining AAP rumours
AMRITSAR: Cricketer-tur nedBJP leader Navjot Singh Sidhu resigned from the Rajya Sabha on Monday at a time speculations were rife that he might join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ahead of next year’s Punjab election.
Sidhu, 52, who was not fielded as a candidate in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, was elected to the Upper House in April. The three-time Lok Sabha MP from Amritsar has refused the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) repeated attempts to pacify him in the wake of differences between the ruling coalition and his politician wife.
“At the behest of the honourable Prime Minister, I had accepted the Rajya
Sabha nomination for the welfare of Punjab. With the closure of every window leading to Punjab, the purpose stands defeated. It is now a mere burden,
I prefer not to carry it,” he said.
“In the war of right or wrong, you cannot afford to be neutral. I can’t be self-centred, Punjab’s interest is paramount,” Sidhu said in a statement issued in Amritsar at 4.15pm, triggering speculations over new equations. Sidhu has appeared reluctant to take up any significant campaign role in the northern state, though the BJP recently included him in its core team.
His legislator wife, Navjot Kaur Sidhu, triggered a buzz earlier this year by advocating a split with the SAD ahead of the election. She also made noises about being sidelined due to their alleged sour equation with the SAD. CONT’D ON P5