Ex-cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu ended his 12-year association with the BJP last year.
Highlights
- Navjot Singh Sidhu earlier met Rahul Gandhi in December, 2016.
- He ended his 12-year association with BJP on 14 September, 2016.
- Mr Sidhu also held talks with the Aam Aadmi Party, which failed.
Former BJP lawmaker Navjot Singh Sidhu met Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi today amid speculation of the cricket-turned-politician joining the Congress soon. The two had met earlier in December, months after Mr Sidhu resigned as member of the BJP. Mr Sidhu is expected to be the Congress' star campaigner should he join the party ahead of the Punjab polls, scheduled for February 4.
According to PTI, sources confirmed that they met for nearly half-an-hour around 3.30 pm and discussed modalities of his joining the Congress. The sources also said Mr Sidhu might join formally within the next few days, which are considered auspicious.
It is believed that Mr Sidhu has demanded four to five assembly seats for his associates as well as nominations for himself and his wife, besides the Amritsar parliamentary seat - vacated by Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh. Mr Sidhu served two consecutive terms as BJP MP from Amritsar between 2004 and 2014. He was denied a ticket in the 2014 Union elections to accommodate senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley, who lost the polls.
There are also talks of him pushing for the office of Deputy Chief Minister in case of a Congress victory; despite Amarinder Singh stating that the former cricketer will join the party unconditionally and the decision on deputy CM would be taken by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Mr Gandhi at an "appropriate time".
Speculations of Mr Sidhu joining the Congress intensified after his wife and incumbent Amritsar East legislator, Navjot Kaur, joined the party on November 28. Shortly after joining the Congress, Ms Kaur had said, "We are like one soul in two bodies. The body has to follow the soul."
(With inputs from PTI)