Amritsar, March 15
Three-time sitting BJP MP from Amritsar Navjot Singh Sidhu said he would not contest the Lok Sabha elections from any other seat. The saffron party allotted ticket from Amritsar to senior party leader Arun Jaitley today. Sidhu promised full support to Jaitley in the elections.

Before announcing Jaitley's name from Amritsar, the BJP made the last-ditch effort to pacify Sidhu.

The BJP top brass held a meeting with him at the party headquarters in Delhi.

Talking to The Tribune after the meeting, Sidhu said he would welcome Jaitley to contest from Amritsar and would do whatever he can to ensure his victory. He said, “I also made it very clear to the party that I will not contest from West Delhi or Kurukshetra.

I am keen on fighting elections from Amritsar only.”

He said he told BJP president Rajnath Singh that he was not a businessman who was there to cut a deal. “I told him that the politics was not a profession but a mission for me. I am ready to sacrifice everything for the party.”

He said he could never betray the trust of Amritsar residents who elected him to the Lok Sabha thrice in the last decade.On the reports in a section of the media regarding his seeking the Rajya Sabha route, he strongly refuted it while saying that he never sought even the ticket for the Lok Sabha elections from the party.

Chandigarh: The Akali leadership has welcomed the announcement of Arun Jaitley as the SAD-BJP candidate from the Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency. Cabinet ministers Bikram Singh Majithia and Gulzar Singh Ranike said they would back the leader. — TNS