Former cricketer and Bharatiya Janata Party MP Navjot Singh Sidhu resigned from the Rajya Sabha on Monday. Sidhu was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in April 2016, two years after he was asked to leave his Lok Sabha constituency of Amritsar so current Finance Minister Arun Jaitley could contest the seat. Sidhu had been elected to the Amritsar seat twice, in 2004 and 2009.
There are strong indications that Sidhu will now join the Aam Aadmi Party, which is contesting the Assembly elections in Punjab next year. This would be a big setback to the BJP, as they were believed to have offered the popular leader a Rajya Sabha seat to prevent this. AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal had earlier said Sidhu would be welcomed into his party should he choose to join, the Economic Times reported. According to The Indian Express, Sidhu’s wife Navjot Kaur might also resign from her post as a Parliamentary Secretary with the Akali Dal-BJP government in Punjab.
AAP's Punjab convenor Sucha Singh Chotepur tweeted that the party would be happy to welcome both Sidhu and his wife.
Kejriwal did not make it clear that Sidhu was indeed joining, but said:
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