Navjot Kaur Sidhu, former MLA and wife of Congress leader, on Saturday claimed that a “suitcase containing ₹500 crore” is required to secure the post of Chief Minister in Punjab, an amount she said her husband Navjot Singh Sidhu is unwilling and unable to pay.
According to details received by The Chenab Times, Navjot Kaur made the explosive statement while speaking to reporters after meeting Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria in Chandigarh over the deteriorating law and order situation in the state.
She stated that Navjot Singh Sidhu would return to active politics only if declared the Congress’s chief ministerial face for the next Assembly elections. “There are already five chief ministers (faces) in the party who are busy making Congress lose,” she said, adding that the Sidhus have no money to give any party but can transform Punjab into a “golden state.”
The remarks triggered sharp reactions across political parties.
Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar said he had faced a similar demand when he was in Congress. “I was told directly that the Chief Minister’s post does not come for good deeds but for ₹350 crore,” Jakhar claimed.
BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh termed the statement proof of “complete moral collapse” in Congress, alleging the party has turned Punjab politics into a “money-driven auction.”
AAP chief spokesperson and Ajnala MLA Kuldeep Dhaliwal said Navjot Kaur Sidhu’s comment has exposed the “internal reality” of Congress, where factionalism and sale of tickets have ruined the party.
Within Congress, former deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa demanded that the Sidhu family be expelled, alleging Navjot Singh Sidhu had earlier worked on an “opposition script” that caused heavy losses to the party.
PPCC president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring declined to comment, saying the matter was for the party high command to address.
Navjot Kaur Sidhu clarified that her husband remains “strongly attached” to Congress and its leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
(Inputs from Tribune)
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