Manpreet Badal meets Navjot Sidhu in Patiala Central Jail

A bête noire of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, former Bathinda MLA Manpreet Badal met Sidhu in the jail. Senior Congress leader Mohinder Singh Kaypee, it was learnt, also met Sidhu Friday.

Navjot Singh Sidhu; Manpreet Singh Badal (File Photos)

Listen to this article

00:00

1x 1.5x 1.8x

int(3)

The new equations are set to emerge in Punjab Congress as former finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal paid a visit to former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu in Patiala Central Jail where is serving one-year sentence in a road rage case.

A bête noire of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, former Bathinda MLA Manpreet Badal met Sidhu in the jail. Senior Congress leader Mohinder Singh Kaypee, it was learnt, also met Sidhu Friday.

This was for the first time that Manpreet went to meet Sidhu, after the cricketer-commentator-turned politician was awarded one year jail term by the Supreme Court while deciding a review petition in May last year.

Story continues below this ad

Former Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Navjot Sidhu may walk out of jail on the basis of “good conduct” early next year, before the completion of his jail term.

Sidhu has been reportedly selective in meeting Congress leaders. He is also reportedly in touch with the party high command, which is believed to give him a prominent role as he walks out of the jail.

One of his close associate said that Congress high command, after Congress win in Himachal Pradesh, had realized that “had Sidhu been the Congress face in February 20 elections, the party might have performed much better in Punjab”.

In May, twenty days after Amrinder Singh Raja Warring was appointed as Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), daggers were drawn between him and Sidhu when he wrote to All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Punjab affairs Harish Chaudhary, flagging the “parallel activities” which were “not in the interest of the party” being done by Sidhu.

Story continues below this ad

In the run up to February 20 polls, Warring had given a call to defeat all Badals, including Congress nominee from Bathinda Manpreet Badal, who was once an Akali leader and served as finance minister during SAD-BJP combine regime, before he went on to join the Congress party.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram