Chandigarh, April 1: Sending major shockwaves in the political circles of Punjab, Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu, wife of prominent cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday.
She had been holding the position of Chief Parliamentary Secretary of the saffron party in Punjab. Her departure is a major loss for the BJP in the run-up to the all-important assembly elections in the state at the onset of next year. The couple are most likely to join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is set to make a big-bang entry in Punjab’s polity.
On Friday, Navjot Kaur Sidhu announced her resignation on social media site Facebook. In a straightforward post, she wrote, “Finally , I have resigned from BJP. The burden is over.” The Sidhu couple have been fighting an internal battle within the BJP for over a year. The duo were depressed by the party’ decision to fight the next elections in an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
According to sources, both the prominent Punjabi leaders are about to make a big-bang entry in Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP. Political pundits have opined that Sidhu could be the chief ministerial candidate for the party in Punjab. On being recently asked about the prospects of AAP in Punjab, Navjot Kaur Sidhu had said, “People of Punjab want a change. They are unsatisfied with the Akalis. They are looking for alternatives. The SAD_BJP alliance is not good for the people.”
However, sources within AAP have also revealed that the supremo Kejriwal is not reluctant to induct Sidhu now, as opinion polls have shown that he, himself is the most popular leader in Punjab as compared to the state veterans. There is a feeling, that similar to Delhi, Kejriwal alone would stitch a historic victory for AAP in the frontier state.