Punjab Poll Verdict: Congress's Navjot Singh Sidhu Accepts People's Decision, Congratulates AAP

Navjot Singh Sidhu, the president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, contested from Amritsar East in the 2022 elections. But Aam Aadmi Party’s Jeevan Jyot Kaur has defeated the congress leader.

Sidhu, who previously worked as the minister of tourism, cultural affairs and museums of the state of Punjab, was also up against other candidates like Akali Dal’s Bikram Singh Majithia and Bharatiya Janata Party’s Jagmohan Singh Raju.

Ahead of the Amritsar East election result, ex-cricketer Sidhu went to Twitter and congratulated AAP stating: “The voice of the people is the voice of God …. Humbly accept the mandate of the people of Punjab …. Congratulations to Aap !!!”

On a BJP ticket, Sidhu was elected to the Lok Sabha from Amritsar in 2004, after defeating Congress stalwart Raghunandan Lal Bhatia, popularly known as RL Bhatia. After being charged with manslaughter in 2006, Sidhu resigned from the Lok Sabha. He was convicted of causing hurt in a 1988 road rage case.

But in 2009, he defeated his Congress opponent Surinder Singla by a whopping 77,626 votes.

He did not run for the Lok Sabha in 2014, but later he was appointed to the Rajya Sabha by the Narendra Modi government in April 2016.

In July 2016, he, however, resigned from the Rajya Sabha and in September, resigned from the BJP.

He then established the Awaz-e-Punjab front (AeP) along with Akali Dal MLA Pargat Singh and some other leaders, but it was soon shelved.

However, Sidhu later joined the Congress in January 2017. He won the Amritsar East constituency in the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections by a margin of more than 42,000 votes.

When he joined the Congress, Sidhu said that he is a “born Congressman” who came back to his roots.

In 2019, he resigned from the Punjab Cabinet amid a tussle with then chief minister Amarinder Singh. Sidhu posted a copy of his resignation on Twitter on July 14, claiming that it was delivered to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on June 10.

In July 2021, he was appointed president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, succeeding Shri Sunil Jakhar. However, in September last year, he resigned as president of the committee, but the high command rejected his resignation.​

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