Navjot Singh Sidhu quits BJP, wife says she's still with them

Navjot Kaur, wife of cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, on Tuesday said his resignation from the Rajya Sabha meant he has also quit the Bharatiya Janata Party and the only option left for him was to join the Aam Aadmi Party.

A day after Navjot Sidhu dealt a blow to BJP in Punjab by resigning from Rajya Sabha, his MLA-wife Navjot Kaur said there is no question of his going back on his decision.

“I think he (Sidhu) has very clearly suggested what he is going to do and in the coming days let him come out with this (his future plans). He has said that he wants to serve Punjab and there is no choice except serving from Aam Aadmi Party,” Kaur, who is MLA from Amritsar-East constituency and is Chief Parliamentary Secretary (Health) in the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP Government, said.

Asked what was her husband’s position now in the BJP, Kaur said, “It is understood that if he has quit the Rajya Sabha, he has quit BJP. There is no question of his going back, he has never gone back on his words. He wants to serve Punjab. And he will serve the state.”

The cricketer-turned-politician had on Monday resigned from the Rajya Sabha, just three months after his nomination by the Narendra Modi government even as the Aam Aadmi Party gave indications that he may be made the party’s face in the assembly elections in Punjab early next year.

Kaur said she was yet to decide about her future plans.

“I am working as a MLA and CPS for my party. I have made no decision as yet. For Navjot the alternative is very clear, he is clear about serving Punjab. So, you can understand what option he has,” she told reporters, adding she has always stood by his side.

Navjot Kaur, who has been vocal against her own government on various issues in the past including development issues, said the stage is over when there can be any rethink by Sidhu on his decision.

She said earlier also she had made it clear that if BJP decides to contest the 2017 assembly polls jointly with the Akalis, she was against it.

Asked if the AAP has given Sidhu some options, Navjot Kaur said, “He must have talked to them, only he knows. Let him state his plans in a press conference.”

“I have talked to him, but let certain things come from his side,” she said.

Asked if it was the right move on his part, Navjot Kaur said, “He is a spiritual man and everything he does is after listening to his inner conscience. And if his inner conscience is saying that he has to serve Punjab without any condition and without asking for anything, let it be so. He has a better vision for Punjab and let the people decide.”

 When asked if it was the end of the road for Sidhu in the BJP, Kaur emphatically said, “Yes”.

When again asked about her plans, she said, “Let me see what take he has, let him come out and say what he has to say in a press conference and then let me take my decision.”

“I follow him blindly... But at the moment, I am working as MLA,” she said.

When pointed out that they were being dubbed as opportunists by some opponents, Navjot Kaur said, “There is no question of asking for any position. He is not coming on any condition or wanting any position. He is just saying I want to serve Punjab.”

Kaur indicated that Sidhu had been ignored and not given any major role by BJP in Punjab.

“He has always wanted to serve Punjab, that’s been his only aim. If he is given option to work anywhere other than Punjab he does not want that. BJP had enough time to bring him to the forefront (in Punjab). But if they thought that he doesn’t deserve it and he is not such a kind of a person who can do something for BJP in Punjab, so let it be so.”

Asked if BJP leaders had approached her, she said, “Nobody talked to me since my phone was switched off.”

To another question, she said for the past three years they she has been saying that BJP should separate from the Akalis, but that has not happened.

Navjot Kaur dubbed Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal as a “turncoat”.

“There cannot be a bigger opportunist and dalbadloo (turnboat) than Parkash Singh Badal,” she told reporters.

While criticising the Badals, Navjot Kaur described Kejriwal as a “honest” man.

“I look up to a person who first talks about the basics. Whether there is electricity or not, whether one is getting pension or not, food, gas (LPG), whether road is complete or not, whether health and education is provided or not. First talk about these things rather than boasting. From that point of view, I find him (Kejriwal) a grounded and an honest man,” she said.

Showering praise on Delhi chief minister, she described herself as an “ardent fan” of him.

“I am an ardent fan of him (Arvind Kejriwal). There are some good and bad things in every person. But his (Kejriwal) merits are in abundance,” Sidhu said.

She praised him for “I have not worked with him but what I read and see about him I feel that being in the public, he talks about basic things”.

Kejriwal had on Monday hailed Navjot Singh Sidhu’s resignation from the Upper House, saying it requires courage to give up a Rajya Sabha membership to “save” his state.