Navjot Singh Sidhu Meets Punjab CM Amarinder Singh Over Tea, May Return as Minister

Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu met Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh at his Mohali farmhouse for tea March 17. (Raveen Thukral/Twitter photo)

NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH – Navjot Singh Sidhu is likely to be reinducted into the Punjab cabinet, sources said, hours after the cricketer-turned-politician met Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh at his Mohali farmhouse for tea March 17.

Party sources said that Sidhu will be given two portfolios to keep him in good spirits and the formula was suggested by the Congress leadership to adjust him. Sidhu wanted his old portfolios, but the Congress leadership has pacified and convinced him to agree to an amicable formula.

Sports Minister Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, who accompanied Sidhu, said there is no grudge between him and the chief minister.

The meeting, held over evening tea, lasted for nearly 45 minutes. While there is no official word from the chief minister’s office on it, the media advisor to the CM, Raveen Thukral, shared a picture of the two leaders on his Twitter handle with the caption, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

Simultaneously, Sidhu tweeted in his poetic style, writing, “Azad raho vicharoan se lekin raho sanskaroan se…”

Sidhu had resigned from the Punjab cabinet in July 2019 after being stripped of a key portfolio. He was in-charge of local bodies but was then shifted to the Power Department.

The simmering tension between the two leaders had reached a boiling point when Sidhu’s wife Navjot Kaur was denied a party ticket for the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, sources said.

This was the second meeting between the two leaders after Sidhu resigned.

Congress state in charge Harish Rawat had met both Amarinder Singh and Sidhu last week to hammer out a solution.