Navjot Sidhu stages a comeback into Punjab politics, nominated to state BJP core team

In a major change to the composition of the core committee of the state unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rajya Sabha MP Navjot Sidhu has been made a part of the committee even as state local bodies’ minister Anil Joshi, Sidhu’s friend-turned foe, has been dropped. The three-time Amritsar MP, Navjot Sidhu, had long been sidelined within the party’s Punjab affairs and had stopped playing an active part

ever since the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat went to Arun Jaitley who subsequently lost to Capt Amarinder Singh. Navjot Sidhu, along with his wife, Navjot Kaur Sidhu, BJP MLA from Amritsar East onstituency and a Chief Parliamentary Secretary in the state government, have not enjoyed the best of relations with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leadership. Sidhu’s rehabilitation in Punjab politics by BJP sends a strong signal to the Akali coalition partners that he would be playing an important role leading upto the forthcoming assembly elections. Sources in BJP confirmed the changes in the core committee of the party in which along with Anil Joshi, the party has also dropped Tikshan Sud, a former MLA and minister who is at present enjoying the status of Political Advisor to the Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal. Out of the four BJP cabinet ministers in the state, only two are part of the core committee with Health Minister Surjit Kumar Jyani’s name also not figuring in the list. Former MP, Gurcharan Kaur has also been dropped from the committee.