Shortly after her exit from the Congress, former MLA Navjot Kaur Sidhu has hit out at Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, saying that he is disconnected from ground realities and that what he does and says is very different.
Speaking to the media in Coimbatore, the former Congress leader alleged corruption in the party's Punjab unit and predicted its defeat in the state polls next year.
Navjot Kaur Sidhu, wife of former cricketer and former Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, said Gandhi has not worked at the grassroots and does not know what's happening on the ground. "I think it's very important to be grounded. What's happening at Ground Zero is very important. You can't be living in a dream world," she said.
Drawing a parallel between Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she said, "You can point a finger at PM Modi. Try to touch him. Does he have a penny? Does he have a file against him? Try touching him personally. There is nothing against him. Rahul Gandhi talks well. He talks sense. But what he does and what he says are very different."
Navjot Kaur Sidhu said that she tried to get Gandhi's appointment for eight months to tell him about the "injustice" by the Punjab Congress chief.
"I just asked you for a sitting to tell you that your party is being destroyed in Punjab. They have already sold the tickets. If you are not aware of what's happening beneath you, then I am sorry, you don't deserve that chair. You are responsible for what you are doing," she said.
"We left everything for Punjab, and you promised us a deputy chief minister post with seven departments and me as an MP, but you gave us nothing. Why are you talking against corruption when your own people are corrupt? And you're liking those corrupt people around you. The people surrounding you are totally corrupt. You have no time for the honest people who want to come and tell you that this is going wrong, you are not going to win Punjab," she said.
Last week, Congress's general secretary in charge of Punjab, Bhupesh Baghel, said Navjot Kaur Sidhu has been expelled from the party. This came days after she announced she quit the party.
The 62-year-old was earlier with the BJP and served as an MLA from 2012 to 2016, when she joined the Congress. Recently, she levelled serious allegations against Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and said the state leadership was demanding Rs 500 crore in exchange for the Chief Minister post if Congress wins the polls. She was suspended amid the row following that remark.
