Navjot Singh Sidhu Joins Congress, to Contest from Amritsar East

New Delhi: Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu formally joined Congress on Sunday after meeting party vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

Sidhu will contest the upcoming Punjab assembly elections from Amritsar east, where his wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu is the sitting MLA. She joined Congress in November last.

Sidhu had resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party on September 14.

Sidhu's entry into Congress had been speculated for a long time. Earlier, he was in talks with the Aam Aadmi Party, which claimed it offered him the post of deputy CM if the party secures majority, but the negotiations did not yield any result and led to a split in Awaaz-e-Punjab, which Sidhu had formed with the Bains brothers.

Having won three consecutive Lok Sabha elections from the state beginning 2004, Sidhu is a popular face in Punjab and may prove to be an asset for the Congress, which aims fend off competition from the Aam Aadmi Party and unseat the Akali Dal-BJP combine.

In a press statement, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said: “… Known for his straight talking, ideological commitment to the cause of Nationalism as also wit and humour, we are certain that Congress Party will be immensely strengthened in Punjab and elsewhere with the entry of S. Sidhu."