Sidhu formally resigns from BJP

Cricketer-turned-politician and former Rajya Sabha member Navjot Singh Sidhu on Wednesday formally resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The move came a day after his wife Navjot Kaur lashed out at the BJP-SAD regime in Punjab while accusing them of not letting her work in her constituency and continuously interfering in her work.

"Whenever I have told Badal ji that the administration is interfering in my work then he said no this can't happen with a lady. With a lot of efforts, I got money for my constituency at the end of the term. When I tried to spend the money in small villages where there is no roads then the administration got a call from higher authority. They were asked to move out of the place and were told that the MLA is here and you don't have to stand with her," she said.

"If the MLA is doing something wrong then they should be questioned. If I am doing some anti-party activity then I should be questioned. Why the administrators are being stopped to work as per my orders? Is this a way to treat an MLA?" she asked.

Earlier in mid-July, Sidhu resigned from Upper House of Parliament after he was asked by the BJP to stay away from poll-bound Punjab.

He had been upset since the BJP decided not to field him from Amritsar, a seat he had held for 10 years, in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP fielded Arun Jaitley, who lost to Congress' Amrinder Singh in the polls.

Earlier this month, Sidhu formally launched a new political party 'Awaaz-e-Punjab', which will possibly contest the Punjab assembly elections next year.

The cricketer-turned-politician has invited "like-minded" people to join hands with him.

The launch of the new party came days after speculations that Sidhu would join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

However, his bargain for the party's chief ministerial candidate in the upcoming Punjab Assembly polls did not go well with AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal.