PRESS TRUST OF INDIA |
New Delhi, Dec 13 |15: While Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal has said cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu was welcome to join AAP, party insiders say his joining the party is highly unlikely. A highly placed source in AAP said, “Sidhu wanted to be projected as the Chief Ministerial candidate of the party as soon as he joined it. But since AAP is a party of volunteers, nobody could be inducted into it as the top candidate automatically.” “It does not look like it (Sidhu joining AAP) will happen. The talks have failed,” said a Kejriwal aide. He said, if anybody was to be taken in the fold of the party on a pre-condition, it would not only set wrong precedent, but also send a wrong message to the public. Senior party leaders told The Indian Express that the party was worried about who would be the face of AAP in Punjab. “People of this state certainly need a face. We are looking around. Somebody will emerge. But it is unclear yet,” said a source. It is learnt that Sidhu’s wife met Kejriwal but the meeting was inconclusive. Also, BJP insiders say the party is trying its utmost no to let Sidhu go. Sidhu and his wife Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu, who is an MLA, have openly expressed displeasure with the Akalis. AAP Convenor Sucha Singh Chottepur has also made it clear that Sidhu would not be joining AAP. He went to the extent to saying that Sidhu was trying to bargain a good position in BJP by praising AAP.
