Sidhu jumping ships again? AAP's Kejriwal says he is welcome
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said Navjot Singh Sidhu, who left BJP for Congress in 2017, is welcome to join the Aam Aadmi Party, amid raging speculations that the cricketer-turned-politician is looking to switch sides again. Poll strategist Prashant Kishor, who built AAP's campaign for 2020 polls, is learned to be brokering the deal. Years ago, Kishor had brought Sidhu to Congress.
Kejriwal made the remarks while speaking to the News18 channel, saying he wasn't aware of reports that an interlocutor was talking with Sidhu. When asked specifically about Sidhu's possible jump to AAP, he said, "He is welcome." However, Kejriwal didn't answer a subsequent question saying, "Now you are talking of politics in times of corona(virus), I can't even elaborate."
AAP and Sidhu were in talks before 2017 Assembly polls in Punjab too, but after they couldn't end the stalemate over who should be the chief ministerial candidate, he joined Congress, announcing that he had been a Congressi "all his life". However, he didn't share the best ties with Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and quit the state cabinet in July 2019.
Sidhu has been keeping a low-profile since but made an appearance in Congress' star-campaigners' list for Delhi polls. His absenteeism made it to the news again, with reports that he hasn't been in touch with Congress and is distributing ration for underprivileged and PPE kits on his own. In fact, he also ignored Congress' social media call, meant to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Interestingly, Sidhu has been running a YouTube channel called Jittega Punjab, but he was perhaps the only Congress leader who didn't slam PM Modi and the ruling BJP on AICC President Sonia Gandhi's directions. His wife, Dr. Navjot Kaur Sidhu, on the other hand, has been criticizing Captain over a number of issues. She also praised Kejriwal a few days ago.
As speculations continued unabated, Sidhu released a video titled Sach da Safar, where he detailed his political journey, which included contesting on BJP tickets. He mentioned quitting from Rajya Sabha and leaving the state cabinet too. In an attempt to disperse rumors, he put pictures with Sonia, Rahul, and Priyanka Gandhi. To recall, Sidhu had also launched the Awaaz-e-Punjab party, which didn't take off.
