Sidhu to campaign for Cong if Jaitley contests Punjab bypoll
Punjab Congress Chief Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday said Navjot Singh Sidhu will campaign against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley if he decides to contest the Lok Sabha by-election in Amritsar. "Sidhu will join the Congress in a day or two," Amarinder Singh added. Sidhu was BJP MP from Amritsar and had won the seat in 2004, 2007 by-election and 2009.
Releasing his party's manifesto for the forthcoming Punjab election, Captain Amarinder Singh today said Navjot Singh Sidhu will join the Congress soon and campaign against Arun Jaitley if the Finance Minister decides to contest the Lok Sabha by-election in Amritsar."Navjot Singh Sidhu will join the Congress in a day or two and will campaign against Jaitley if he decides to fight the Lok Sabha by-election," Singh told India Today TV in an exclusive chat.Amarinder had beaten Jaitley from the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat in May 2014 general election. The Congress leader had won comfortably by a margin of over one lakh votes, causing a major embarrassment to the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance government in Punjab.Sidhu was also the BJP MP from Amritsar, winning the seat thrice: in 2004, 2007 by-election and 2009.Also read: Punjab: Navjot Singh Sidhu likely to join Congress on January 9 The cricketer-turned-politician was overlooked by the BJP for the 2014 general election for this seat and his political mentor in the BJP, Jaitley, was fielded instead.Sidhu did not enter the Amritsar constituency even once during Jaitley's campaign despite being part of the BJP at that time.