Navjot Kaur Sidhu says husband will join Congress and contest Amritsar (East)

India वोट Kar | January 7, 2017

Congress leader Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu said on Wednesday that her husband, the former cricketer and ex-BJP member of Parliament Navjot Singh Sidhu, would join the Congress “very soon” and stand for the Punjab assembly from the Amritsar (East) seat.

What she said

Dr Sidhu made the remarks minutes after the Election Commission announced the schedule for the Punjab assembly polls. She said her husband would come to Amritsar once his ticket was announced.

According to her, Mr Sidhu was in regular contact with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and the state Congress chief, Captain Amarinder Singh, and several rounds of talks had been held with the party’s senior leadership. She said the party was drawing up a programme for him and he would formally join whenever it asked him to.

Congress wary of rebels

The party high command was said to be moving carefully, hoping to deal early with the risk of rebel candidates. Before releasing a further list, it was holding talks with likely dissenters and trying to placate them by showing them surveys and the other factors it had taken into account.

Polling in Punjab was scheduled for February 4, in one phase, with results to be declared on March 11.

What happened next

In the 2017 Punjab assembly election the Congress won 77 of the 117 seats, the Aam Aadmi Party 20 and the Shiromani Akali Dal 15. Amarinder Singh became Chief Minister and was succeeded by Charanjit Singh Channi in September 2021.

Originally published on 7 January 2017. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.