Navjot Sidhu, wife formally quit BJP
Thursday, 15/09/2016
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NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH: Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu (52) and his wife formally resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday.
“I hereby resign from the primary membership of BJP. Long association (with BJP), painful decision...not my wife, children and party, but Punjab alone comes first. Punjab, Punjabiat and every Punjabi must win (sic),” Sidhu said in his letter to BJP president Amit Shah.
Sidhu, a four-time MP, recently said AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal wanted only “yes men” and asked him to not fight the upcoming Punjab polls in return of a ministerial position for his wife.
At the launch of his new political forum Awaaz-e-Punjab, Sidhu said his dramatic resignation from the Rajya Sabha in July had nothing to do with Kejriwal, quashing months of speculation about him joining the AAP after quitting BJP.
Sidhu has joined hands with three top voices against the state’s ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance — former India hockey captain and suspended Akali MLA Pargat Singh and Ludhiana-based powerful independent lawmakers and brothers Simarjeet and Balwinder Singh Bains. His new forum may now shake up the poll-bound state’s political landscape.
Sidhu’s wife, Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu (52), said she had to encounter interference from people while carrying out her work. “I am an individual; I have only picked up issues of my zone. I am not being allowed to do my work,” she told reporters.
“Whenever I told Badal sahab (that) people interfere in my work, he said no, you are like my daughter... Thekadars (contractors) are threatened that your work will stop if you stand with her,” she added.
Navjot Kaur resigned from the Punjab health department fin 2011. She was announced as the BJP candidate from Amritsar (East)constituency in 2012 assembly polls and won.
