Navjot Singh Sidhu will not be AAP's CM candidate in Punjab, say top leaders

In a major jolt to the BJP ahead of the Punjab Assembly Elections, Navjot Singh Sidhu had on Monday resigned from the Rajya Sabha and hit out at the party.

Amritsar: Two frontline Punjab leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party have said that Navjot Singh Sidhu will not be declared as the chief ministerial candidate of the AAP in the Assembly Elections in the state.

The cricketer-turned-politician resigned from the Rajya Sabha on July 18, sparking off speculation that he may walk across to the Aam Aadmi Party. The three-time Lok Sabha MP from Amritsar has, however, not yet resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Talking to Hindustan Times, AAP’s state convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur said: “Our high command has made it amply clear that Sidhu will join the party and campaign. The question of how he will fare as the CM face does not arise.”

Meanwhile, Sangrur MP and AAP campaign committee in-charge Bhagwant Mann said Sidhu will join the party and campaign, but “he is not going to contest, hence cannot be the CM candidate of the party in the run-up to the elections”.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had also on Tuesday indicated that there was no move yet to project Navjot Singh Sidhu as the chief ministerial candidate of the AAP in the Punjab elections even as he praised the cricketer-turned-politician's move to quit the Rajya Sabha.

"He (Sidhu) has just resigned from the Rajya Sabha. He is a good person. All good people should resign from the Bharatiya Janata Party. However, if anybody who wants to join the AAP, s/he has to become an 'aam aadmi' (common man) first," the AAP leader had told reporters.

In a major jolt to the BJP ahead of the Punjab Assembly Elections, Sidhu had on Monday resigned from the Rajya Sabha and hit out at the party, claiming it was preventing him from working for the state's welfare.