{"id":446,"date":"2017-01-15T21:41:46","date_gmt":"2017-01-15T16:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/?p=446"},"modified":"2017-01-15T22:25:16","modified_gmt":"2017-01-15T16:55:16","slug":"navjot-singh-sidhu-joins-congress-ahead-assembly-elections-punjab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/navjot-singh-sidhu-joins-congress-ahead-assembly-elections-punjab\/","title":{"rendered":"Navjot Singh Sidhu joins Congress ahead of assembly elections in Punjab"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>New Delhi:<\/strong> Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu formally joined Congress on Sunday. Sidhu met Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and announced his decision ahead of assembly elections in Punjab. The Congress will likely use him as a star campaigner as he is scheduled to address more than 70 rallies in the coming days.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Beginning of a new inning. On the front foot&#8230;&#8230;..  Punjab, Punjabiyat &amp; every Punjabi must win !!! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/up0WzzoaxJ\">pic.twitter.com\/up0WzzoaxJ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sherryontopp\/status\/820544099799285760\">January 15, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Speculations about Sidhu joining Congress were rife since he left Bhartiya Janata Party in September, 2006. He met Rahul Gandhi several times in the past four months.<\/p>\n<p>Sidhu was into negotiation with AAP also. The party had offered him the post of deputy chief minister if it wins with a majority. The negotiations, however, failed.<\/p>\n<p>His Sunday meeting with the Congress vice-president was second in the last four days.<\/p>\n<p>The Congress has promised the Amritsar East seat for Sidhu where his wife Navjot Kaur is a sitting legislator. Some of his supporters are also likely to get tickets for contesting in the assembly elections.<\/p>\n<p>Sidhu had demanded that he be made deputy chief minister if Congress comes to power in Punjab. Whether Congress agreed to his demand is yet unclear.<\/p>\n<p>Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said, \u201cthe party welcomes Sidhu into the Congress family and we thank Congress vice president for his visionary approach in bringing together like-minded people on a common platform under the Congress umbrella.<\/p>\n<p>Sidhu has won Lok Sabha elections from Punjab for three consecutive terms since 2004. His entry into the Congress will strengthen the party\u2019s hold among voters in the state.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">INC welcomes S.Navjot Singh Sidhu &amp; thanks Rahul Gandhiji for bringing likeminded leaders under the Congress umbrella <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hnJPs407MZ\">pic.twitter.com\/hnJPs407MZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Randeep S Surjewala (@rssurjewala) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rssurjewala\/status\/820523229173469184\">January 15, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Surjewala said: \u201c\u2026 Known for his straight talking, ideological commitment to the cause of Nationalism as also wit and humour, we are certain that Congress Party will be immensely strengthened in Punjab and elsewhere with the entry of S. Sidhu.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Delhi: Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu formally joined Congress on Sunday. Sidhu met Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and announced his decision ahead of assembly elections in Punjab. The Congress will likely use him as a star campaigner as he is scheduled to address more than 70 rallies in the coming days. Beginning of a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Navjot Singh Sidhu joins Congress ahead of assembly elections in Punjab<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/navjot-singh-sidhu-joins-congress-ahead-assembly-elections-punjab\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Navjot Singh Sidhu joins Congress ahead of assembly elections in Punjab\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New Delhi: Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu formally joined Congress on Sunday. Sidhu met Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and announced his decision ahead of assembly elections in Punjab. The Congress will likely use him as a star campaigner as he is scheduled to address more than 70 rallies in the coming days. 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Sidhu met Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and announced his decision ahead of assembly elections in Punjab. The Congress will likely use him as a star campaigner as he is scheduled to address more than 70 rallies in the coming days. Beginning of a [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/navjot-singh-sidhu-joins-congress-ahead-assembly-elections-punjab\/","og_site_name":"The PinkCity Post","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pinkcitypost\/","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pinkcitypost\/","article_published_time":"2017-01-15T16:11:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-01-15T16:55:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":843,"height":519,"url":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Navjot-Singh-Sidhu-joings-Congress.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Staff Writer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ThePinkCityPost","twitter_site":"@ThePinkCityPost","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Staff Writer","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/navjot-singh-sidhu-joins-congress-ahead-assembly-elections-punjab\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/navjot-singh-sidhu-joins-congress-ahead-assembly-elections-punjab\/"},"author":{"name":"Staff Writer","@id":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f954bc02b7b634cbfb6629a054db9657"},"headline":"Navjot Singh Sidhu joins Congress ahead of assembly elections in Punjab","datePublished":"2017-01-15T16:11:46+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-15T16:55:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/navjot-singh-sidhu-joins-congress-ahead-assembly-elections-punjab\/"},"wordCount":352,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/navjot-singh-sidhu-joins-congress-ahead-assembly-elections-punjab\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Navjot-Singh-Sidhu-joings-Congress.jpg","articleSection":["National News"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/navjot-singh-sidhu-joins-congress-ahead-assembly-elections-punjab\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/navjot-singh-sidhu-joins-congress-ahead-assembly-elections-punjab\/","name":"Navjot Singh Sidhu joins Congress ahead of assembly elections in Punjab","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/navjot-singh-sidhu-joins-congress-ahead-assembly-elections-punjab\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/navjot-singh-sidhu-joins-congress-ahead-assembly-elections-punjab\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Navjot-Singh-Sidhu-joings-Congress.jpg","datePublished":"2017-01-15T16:11:46+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-15T16:55:16+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/navjot-singh-sidhu-joins-congress-ahead-assembly-elections-punjab\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/navjot-singh-sidhu-joins-congress-ahead-assembly-elections-punjab\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/navjot-singh-sidhu-joins-congress-ahead-assembly-elections-punjab\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Navjot-Singh-Sidhu-joings-Congress.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Navjot-Singh-Sidhu-joings-Congress.jpg","width":843,"height":519,"caption":"Congress to use Navjot Singh Sidhu as a star campaigner in Punjab assembly elections."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/navjot-singh-sidhu-joins-congress-ahead-assembly-elections-punjab\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"National News","item":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/category\/national-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Navjot Singh Sidhu joins Congress ahead of assembly elections in Punjab"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pinkcitypost.com\/","name":"The PinkCity Post","description":"Jaipur&#039;s First Digital Newspaper - 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