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This is an archive article published on July 18, 2016
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Opinion Why Sidhu’s RS exit comes not as surprise to anyone but the BJP

State unit chief, Vijay Sampla said that he was unaware of the development and could offer comments only after ascertaining the facts.

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ChandigarhJuly 20, 2016 12:41 PM IST First published on: Jul 18, 2016 at 05:55 PM IST
Navjot Singh Sidhu, sidhu, aam aadmi party, sidhu aap, punjab aap, punjab assembly election, sidhu leaves bjp, sidhu rajya sabha nomination, punjab news, aap news, india news, latest news The former cricketer had stopped playing an active role in Punjab following the nomination of Arun Jaitley for the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat which was held by Sidhu till 2014 general elections.

‘Vajrapaat ho gaya,’ (A thunderbolt has struck), said a Punjab BJP leader when the news of Navjot Sidhu’s resignation from Rajya Sabha broke amidst reports that he and his wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu, a BJP MLA, are joining Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The over-dramatic reaction from the senior BJP leader notwithstanding, the state unit of the party was caught completely off guard by the three-time Amritsar MP’s resignation on the first day of the monsoon session of Parliament.

READ | Out of BJP, Navjot Singh Sidhu now prepares for a new innings

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State unit chief, Vijay Sampla said that he was unaware of the development and could offer comments only after ascertaining the facts. Several other senior leaders promptly went incommunicado. The writing has been on the wall, however, for the past several months.

Watch | Navjot Singh Sidhu Quits Rajya Sabha: What Next

Despite the nomination of Sidhu to the Rajya Sabha it was quite clear that his heart was not in the new role and that he wished to get into the thick of Punjab politics from which he had studiously kept away for nearly two years now.

READ | Rajya Sabha nomination was a mere burden, purpose defeated: Sidhu post resignation

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The former cricketer had stopped playing an active role in Punjab following the nomination of Arun Jaitley for the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat which was held by Sidhu till 2014 general elections. He did not campaign for Jaitley and only visited the city once the elections results were out and Jaitley had lost to Capt Amarinder Singh by more than one lakh votes.

 

READ | AAP Punjab chief tweets: Navjot Sidhu and wife most welcome in party | Twitter reacts to Sidhu’s resignation

Navjot Sidhu’s antipathy to the ruling Badal clan is not unknown in Punjab and he had held a long pending grouse that he was systematically sidelined in matters pertaining to his constituency and that all development works initiated by him were deliberately stalled by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), BJP’s alliance partner in Punjab.

WATCH VIDEO:Keystrokes: Navjot Singh Sidhu’s Reverse Sweep

 

Sidhu’s rising popularity in the state was said to be eyed with suspicion by the Akalis who suspected that he nursed greater ambitions for a bigger political role in the state than just being an MP. It was, therefore, not very surprising that in his campaign for the BJP in the Haryana elections, Sidhu made full use of his talent for barbs against the Akalis in general and the Badals in particular so much that the Akalis had to lodge a complaint with the BJP high command over his tone of language.

His wife, Navjot Kaur Sidhu, a MLA from Amritsar East constituency and a chief parliamentary secretary in the SAD-BJP government in the state had lately launched a series of vitriolic attacks on the Akalis in which she squarely blamed them for victimising the couple. In an interview to The Indian Express, she had categorically stated that she would not be fighting the 2017 assembly elections in the state if the BJP continued its alliance with SAD. She had also hinted that she was open to joining AAP thereby fueling rumours that the couple were in touch with senior AAP leaders over their prospects in the party.

With the alliance showing no signs of breaking it was a matter of time before the couple took a decision to split from the BJP. While there is no official confirmation as yet that the Sidhu couple have quit the BJP to join AAP, this is the most widely expected outcome of the dramatic development today.

For its part, AAP, which has been getting some good traction on the ground in Punjab, will get a much needed booster shot with the inclusion of Sidhu who is one of the best known political faces of the state and an excellent speaker. In case he is projected as the CM face in the state, it would not only provide a most visible Jat Sikh face to the party but also put paid to the Akali and Congress attacks on AAP that the party would foist a non-Punjabi as the CM in case they came to power.

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