Navjot Kaur, wife of cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, said his resignation from the Rajya Sabha meant he has also quit the BJP and the only option left for him was to join the Aam Aadmi Party
Chandigarh: 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 BJP 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.
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Navjyot Kaur Sidhu. Pic/PTI
"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 SAD-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 yesterday 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 said Sidhu's vision is very clear that he wants to serve Punjab. "If he is given any other option, he is not prepared. So, the party (BJP) was very very clear that they want to work with the Akali Dal and fight the elections together. So it is very very clear there were no doors open for him," she said.
Asked what she felt about AAP, Kaur said, "My take on any party is that people of Punjab want neat, clean and a good governance...ultimately, it is for people of Punjab to decide."
She also hit out at the SAD-BJP Government on the issue of governance, saying, "In my opinion, we have not performed well at all".
She also took a veiled dig at Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal for talking about bringing big projects to Punjab. "We have overlooked basic things and we have talked about, you know, higher things. And higher things on this platform are also not working, there are people who are running from pillar to post to get their work done. Their files are lying in dustbins and you talk about new investments, where are they," she said.
Without naming Sukhbir, she attacked him over the issue of introducing amphibious buses. "You talk about big projects. You are talking about big things like amphibious buses. The ground reality is that you don't have good roads to make buses run in a smooth manner. See what is the condition of roads after it rains. In Amritsar, you don't have money to buy JCB machines. It takes six months to replace a lid of a sewer. Sewerage has entered one foot in people's homes, but Corporation is lying defunct," she said.
To another question, she rebutted suggestions that the Sidhu couple was opportunist. "We are not opportunists, we are not in for positions, what benefit have we taken from the Badal government. Have we run a business...have we taken any personal benefit. We have been serving people selflessly," she said.
To a question on Sidhu being convicted in a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder in Patiala, the MLA said, "Don't take it as criminal case. It was road rage and there were 400 evidences. This was taken up by (former Punjab CM) Amarinder Singh as a propoganda....even (victim's) family agreed that Navjot Sidhu did not touch that man. So, dont call it as a criminal case."
Sidhu, who had represented Amritsar in Lok Sabha between 2004 and 2014, had to make way way for Arun Jaitley in Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
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