Former cricketer and politician Navjot Singh Sidhu has joined hands with the Bains brothers and former India hockey captain Pargat Singh to set up a new front, Aawaz-e-Punjab, which he is due to launch next week. The move comes amid reports that Sidhu, who has quit the BJP, was set to join the Aam Aadmi Party.

What the front is

The group says its aim is to speak out against those it holds responsible for harming Punjab. Sidhu has denied that Aawaz-e-Punjab is a new political party. His wife, Navjot Kaur Sidhu, told reporters that he would explain the front to the media himself on September 8.

Ludhiana’s two Independent MLAs, the Bains brothers, lead a non-political group called Team Insaaf, through which they have run a campaign against the Badals. Pargat Singh was suspended by the Shiromani Akali Dal last month after reports that he was moving closer to AAP. Asked whether Sucha Singh Chhotepur, the former AAP convener in Punjab, and expelled Congress leader Jagmeet Singh Brar might join, Bains said all such people would be invited, to save the state from what he called loot by the Badals.

Talks with AAP

Sidhu gave up his Rajya Sabha seat in July and had been widely expected to join AAP, until party chief Arvind Kejriwal said Sidhu “needed some more time”. That led to speculation that he had set conditions the party found unacceptable. A senior AAP leader has since claimed that talks are still on and that Sidhu wants to see how much public support the front attracts. Sidhu has not been clear on whether he has left the BJP, and the Congress is also courting him. The Sidhus and Pargat Singh had been in contact with AAP earlier as well.

What happened next

In the 2017 Punjab Assembly election the Congress won 77 of 117 seats, AAP 20 and the Shiromani Akali Dal 15. Amarinder Singh became Chief Minister.

See also: Aam Aadmi Party and Punjab Vidhan Sabha members.

Originally published on 5 September 2016. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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