Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu meets party workers

With former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu staying away from political platforms for some time, his wife and former legislator Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu has started holding meetings of Congress workers.

After overcoming her cancer ailment, she is back on her feet, and held meetings with party workers today at her residence in Amritsar. Though she did not inform the media, yet she posted group pictures on social media.

Though Dr Sidhu could not be contacted, a party worker preferring anonymity confirmed that she has been in Amritsar for the past five days and was meeting party workers and residents of Amritsar (East) constituency which she represented as a lawmaker in between 2012-2017 during the SAD-BJP regime. She was Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) for the SAD-BJP regime before the Sidhu couple switched over to the Congress in 2017.

She opted out of the Assembly elections in 2017, probably in line with the ‘one family, one ticket’ rule, giving her seat to her husband who eventually won and was elevated to the rank of a cabinet minister.

The Sidhu couple was in oblivion as far as Amritsar is concerned, post 2022 Assembly polls, when Navjot Singh Sidhu unsuccessfully contested the elections against AAP’s Jeevanjot Kaur. Since then, they had shifted their focus to their home town and former CM Captain Amarinder Singh’s constituency Patiala and carried on political activities from there.

This was followed by Sidhu’s 10 month imprisonment after being convicted in an old road rage case.

After coming out of jail, the three-time Lok Sabha MP and one-time Rajya Sabha MP, diverted his attention more towards his profession as a playful cricket commentator. Despite being in the list of star campaigners, he didn’t campaign for the party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Another cause of Sidhu’s preoccupation was his wife’s cancer. Sidhu had to be by her side. She was under treatment at Dr Waryam Singh Hospital in Yamunanagar, leading to his absence from political activities.

Meanwhile, the Congress high command too changed its leadership in Amritsar East constituency. Former Congress MP from Khadoor Sahib, Jasbir Singh Dimpa was appointed as the halqa in-charge of East Assembly constituency, which was earlier represented by Sidhu.

With Dr Sidhu’s re-engagement with party workers, it is being taken as a signal of the Sidhu couple’s comeback in active politics, be it from Amritsar or Patiala.