Sidhu welcome to join Congress: Amarinder

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Press Trust of India New Delhi
Last Updated : Jul 19 2016 | 9:48 PM IST
Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh today said former BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu was welcome to join the party if he so desired.
"Congress party's doors are open for everyone," he told reporters when asked if he would welcome Sidhu to the Congress fold.
He, however, said there was no communication between him and Sidhu so far. Asked if any Congress leader was in touch with Sidhu, he said, "Not to my knowledge".
Amarinder said Sidhu, who hails from Patiala, had a Congress background as his father late Bhagwant Singh Sidhu had been an office bearer of District Congress Committee.
"When my mother was Patiala DCC chief, Sidhu's father was her general secretary," he said, referring to the association the Sidhu family had with Congress.
When asked if he had met Sidhu in the recent past, Amarinder said, "We are both from Patiala and we are both Sidhus. I don't remember having met him for a long time now."
On whether Congress would invite the former Amritsar MP to join the party, the PCC chief said, "He is yet to resign from the BJP".
In a jolt to BJP ahead of Punjab elections, Sidhu had yesterday resigned his Rajya Sabha membership, saying "the burden is over".
He is widely speculated to join AAP and be its face in Punjab, though party chief Arvind Kejriwal indicated projecting him as chief ministerial candidate would be premature.
Sidhu today kept himself away from the media while his wife Navjot Kaur, a BJP MLA, did all the talking, saying his resignation from the Rajya Sabha yesterday meant he has also quit the party and the only option for them now was to join the AAP.
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First Published: Jul 19 2016 | 9:48 PM IST

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