Sidhu welcome in AAP, if he wants, says Kejriwal

The former India opener has been out of active politics since the 2014 Haryana assembly elections in which the BJP had presented him as its Sikh face.

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Kejriwal was answering a question on the possibility of Sidhu joining his party and becoming its chief ministerial candidate for the Punjab assembly elections of 2017. (Source: Express file photo)

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said former BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu was welcome to join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), if he so wished. Sidhu’s wife Navjot Kaur reacted to Kejriwal’s statement saying it was a “compliment”. BJP national secretary Tarun Chugh said he had no comments to offer.

“Our surveys tell us that we will win in Punjab. There has been no discussion on Sidhuji joining the AAP. But if he wishes to come to the party, he is welcome,” Kejriwal said at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on Saturday. He was answering a question on the possibility of Sidhu joining his party and becoming its chief ministerial candidate for the Punjab assembly elections of 2017.

While AAP is confident of a “Delhi-style” win in those elections, speculation is rife that Sidhu and his wife, whose relations with the state leadership of the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal have been bitter, would join the party.

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“It is nice that Arvind Kejriwal has said this for Navjot Singh Sidhu. Such statements are like compliments for your work. Arvind Kejriwal must have made this statement because he believes that Sidhu is a capable person,” Navjot Kaur Sidhu, a BJP MLA and chief parliamentary secretary in the Punjab government, said.

“(Kejriwal’s) statement has definitely obliged us. It proves that the people love Navjot,” she added. However, she declined to comment on the possibility of their joining AAP. “I cannot say anything on it. Only Navjot can make a statement. It must be his decision. So far, there has been no communication with anyone in AAP. We have not been approached by any party,” Navjot Kaur said.

The former India opener has been out of active politics since the 2014 Haryana assembly elections in which the BJP had presented him as its Sikh face. Navjot Kaur has criticised the state BJP leadership for supporting SAD’s Sadbhavna rallies, and had staged a dharna against her own government for the alleged delay in the release of development funds for her constituency.

Senior AAP leaders in Delhi, however, said the party would not initiate talks unless Sidhu expressed a wish to come on board. “We have to know whether he wishes to join the party. We will not initiate anything unless he expresses an interest,” said an AAP leader.

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Kejriwal is slated to hold a rally in Punjab in January and according to the party leadership, he will turn his focus to Punjab six months before the polls. AAP’s preparations for the 2017 polls have taken off, and 90 per cent of booth level meetings have been completed, party leaders said. AAP won four Lok Sabha seats from Punjab in 2014.

[With inputs ENS, Delhi]