"My commitment for Punjab will..." Navjot Singh Sidhu after meeting "mentor" Rahul, Priyanka
Apr 06, 2023
New Delhi [India], April 6 : Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday met former party president Rahul Gandhi and "friend" Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in the national capital and said that his commitment for his leaders and the Punjab state will remain unfazed.
Sidhu met Rahul Gandhi for the first time after he was released on April 1 from Patiala Central Jail in Punjab after he was sentenced to one-year imprisonment by the Supreme Court in a three decades old road rage case.
"Met my Mentor Rahul ji and Friend, Philosopher, Guide Priyanka ji in New Delhi today. You can Jail me , Intimidate me, Block all my financial accounts but My commitment for Punjab and My Leaders will neither flinch nor back an inch!!" Sidhu tweeted.
Sidhu was sentenced to one year of imprisonment by the Supreme Court in May last year in the 1988 case of road rage in which he allegedly thrashed one Gurnam Singh, who later died in hospital.
Soon after walking out of the jail, Sidhu said that democracy is in chains and that there is a conspiracy to bring the President's Rule in Punjab.
"Democracy is in chains. There is no such thing as democracy right now. Conspiracy to bring President's Rule in Punjab. Minorities being targeted. If you try to weaken Punjab, you will become weak," he had told reporters outside the jail.
Expressing his support for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was recently disqualified as a Lok Sabha MP, he said that the former Wayanad MP will rattle the government.
"Whenever a dictatorship came to this country a revolution has also come and this time, the name of that revolution is Rahul Gandhi. He will rattle the government," he said.
The cricketer-turned-politician left the Bharatiya Janata Party to join the Congress party in 2018. The following year, he resigned from the Captain Amarinder Singh-led cabinet in the Punjab government following differences with Singh. In 2021, Sidhu was made the Punjab Congress chief.
When the Congress Working Commitee asked Amarinder Singh to resign as Punjab's Chief Minister, Sidhu hoped to succeed him even as the post went to Charanjit Singh Channi.
In the 2022 Punjab assembly elections, Congress suffered a massive drubbing, winning only 18 seats in the 117-seat assembly. Sidhu then resigned as the state Congress chief.
With political dynamics in Punjab having undergone a change, there are speculations as to what role Sidhu would be assigned now.
