Navjot Singh Sidhu likely to join AAP, Kejriwal says ‘Welcome’: Report

AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday made it clear that he would be happy to have Navjot Singh Sidhu join Aam Aadmi Party amidst reports that Sidhu was in talks separately with AAP political strategist Prashant Kishor, according to a report by News18.

While Punjab Congress and AAP were in talks separately with political strategist Prashant Kishor to draft their campaign strategy for the 2022 elections, cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu came up with a googly.

Sidhu resigned from the Council of Ministers last year and has been lying low and restricting himself to his constituency in Amritsar.

“Sidhu is desisting from targeting the CM on any issue. This means he is keeping his doors open to return to the active political scene in the Congress under the leadership of Capt Amarinder Singh. With central leadership in favour of Sidhu, it is to be seen whether Sidhu joins hands with Capt Amarinder or waits till the elections,” said a senior party leader told the media.

AAP's Punjab in-charge Jarnail Singh told IANS, "Those who are willing to join the party with honest intentions are welcome, be it, Sidhu." However, he said that he was not aware as to who was holding talks with the Congress leader.

According to sources, election strategist Prashant Kishor is working behind the scenes to get Sidhu into the AAP fold. A top source close to Sidhu told IANS that on the second of this month, during a WhatsApp call and exchange of messages with Kishor, Sidhu discussed the terms and conditions to join the AAP.

However, media reports say, as Sidhu’s options were being debated, he put a video on his channel calling it ‘Sach da Safar’ in which he looked back at his political journey when he contested four elections on BJP tickets and was then asked to move out of Punjab. The googly came when he tried to put a stop to the speculation by sharing his pictures with Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in the end of the video that said, “Praan jaye par vachan na jaye.”

Amidst the conundrum, Kejriwal told the publication India that the Amritsar East MLA is welcome to join AAP. “He is welcome,” Kejriwal said when asked about Sidhu’s move.

In the 2017 Assembly polls, the Congress swept to power in Punjab by defeating the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the BJP. Sidhu, who joined the Congress ahead of the Assembly polls in 2017, has been at loggerheads with Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh for some time now.