“Navjot Singh Sidhu, nominated member, resigns from the Rajya Sabha”, tweeted Gurdeep Singh Sappal, OSD to Vice- President Hamid Ansari.
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Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) leader Navjot Sidhu who had quit as MP of Rajya Sabha earlier today also quit the Bhartiya Janta Party. The resignation letter has been addressed to Ansari, who is chairman of the Rajya Sabha, official sources said, adding he is likely to accept the resignation. With closure of every window leading to Punjab the objective stands defeated, now a mere burden.
Sidhu, three-time Lok Sabha member from Amritsar, had been slighted by the ruling dispensation in Punjab – the Shiromani Akali Dal and its alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – in the past few years.
Sidhu’s wife Navjot Kaur, a Parliamentary Secretary in the Punjab SAD-BJP government, may also resign from her post.
On April, this year, Sidhu was nominated as the Rajya Sabha MP after reports emerged that he was joing the AAP, which has been campaigning aggressively for the Punjab assembly elections.
Sidhu is likely to join AAP. When Mr Jaitley lost the election, Mr Sidhu was charged by local BJP leaders with sabotaging the party’s cause.
Rajya Sabha deputy chairman PJ Kurien also announced in the House that the Chairman has accepted the resignation of Sidhu. Both Sidhu and his wife share an uneasy relationship with the Akali leadership and have made open attacks on Akali Dal and its leadership on governance issues.
AAP leader Sanjay Singh, who is in charge of the party’s strategy in the Punjab assembly elections, said that good forces should join hands in Punjab to oppose the land mafia and drug mafia. “May be now, he finds that he does not enjoy that much freedom to express himself (in BJP)”, Mann said. If people like Sidhu join the AAP it will be good for the party, he said. AAP is seen as a contender for power in Punjab.
Though AAP leaders in Delhi have officially refused to confirm the development, they have not ruled out the possibility of Sidhu and his wife joining the AAP.
The scars from Amritsar ensured Sidhu did not participate in any BJP-related activity and stayed away from poll campaigns. “For other queries you have, it’s all premature”.
“I think to make a better Punjab, Navjot Singh ji has taken this step. I am ready to vacate my seat for your relatives”.
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Sidhu, a former Lok Sabha MP from Amritsar, was convicted in a culpable homicide case in Patiala and is out on bail.
