Navjot Singh Sidhu joins Congress ahead of Punjab elections, to contest from Amritsar

Pic courtsey: INC Congress

New Delhi: Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu joined the Congress party on Sunday after meeting party vice president Rahul Gandhi, thus ending a long period of uncertainty prevailing over the three-time former MP.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi welcomes Navjot Singh Sidhu into the Indian National Congress pic.twitter.com/tqeVNSWrC5

— INC India (@INCIndia) January 15, 2017

He will contest the state assembly polls from Amritsar constituency, a seat he represented as a BJP member from 2002 to 2014.

He will be an MLA, Amritsar East seat has been given to him: Captain Amarinder Singh,Cong on Navjot Singh Sidhu #PunjabPolls pic.twitter.com/YXSblMKZQI

— ANI (@ANI_news) January 15, 2017

After meeting the Congress vice-president at his New Delhi residence, Sidhu joined the party officially. 

Delhi: Navjot Singh Sidhu leaves from Rahul Gandhi's residence; joined Congress a short while ago pic.twitter.com/ZyBfOWZ1xs

— ANI (@ANI_news) January 15, 2017

This was his third meeting with Rahul Gandhi, with whom he met earlier on January 12 and in December last year.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala released a statement today that read, "Known for his straight-talking, ideological commitment to nationalism as also wit and humour, we are certain the Congress party will be immensely strengthened in Punjab and elsewhere with the entry of Sidhu."

INC welcomes S.Navjot Singh Sidhu & thanks Rahul Gandhiji for bringing likeminded leaders under the Congress umbrella pic.twitter.com/hnJPs407MZ

— Randeep S Surjewala (@rssurjewala) January 15, 2017

Sidhu was to join the Congress on Tuesday but he remained incommunicado and did not turn up. 

The 53-year-old is known as a star vote-catcher who is likely to help the Congress overcome a strong fight from the Akali Dal and the AAP in the Punjab assembly elections. 

Punjab will go to polls on February 4 and the grand old party is hoping to come back to power after a decade. 

The Congress had not announced its candidate for Amritsar (East) assembly constituency in its third list of 23 candidates that was released on Thursday. Speculations were rife that Sidhu will contest from the constituency, from where his wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu was a member of the Punjab Assembly.

His wife, Navjot Kaur Sidhu, had joined the Congress in November 2016, after resigning from the BJP last year. She represented Amritsar-east constituency in the Punjab Assembly. She is also a former Chief Parliamentary Secretary of the Punjab government.

Sidhu, walked out of the BJP in September last year and resigned from the Rajya Sabha, accused BJP of using him as a 'decorative piece' and trying to keep him out of Punjab. He was in talks with AAP but negotiations broke down late last year.

He had also formed a new political front in Punjab with India's former hockey captain Pargat Singh and Punjab MLAs Simarjit Singh Bains and Balwant Singh Bains called 'Aawaaz-e-Punjab'.