Navjot Singh Sidhu likely to join AAP on August 18

Inching closer to joining Aam Aadmi Party, cricketer turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu on Saturday morning met Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and the party’s Punjab affairs in-charge, Sanjay Singh, at an “undisclosed location”.

Sources said that Mr Sidhu is expected to join the party formally on August 18 and will be its star campaigner for the Punjab polls scheduled for next year.

The meeting, which was supposed to take place on Friday evening, was postponed to Saturday and lasted for an hour.

Sources said that contrary to the reports that Mr Sidhu could be projected as the party’s face in Punjab, he will be associated with the party as its star campaigner.

The crucial meeting comes after weeks of speculation over Mr Sidhu’s political future after quitting BJP.

The former cricketer and a prominent television figure, who had been a BJP MP in the Rajya Sabha, had quit both his post and the party in July. After parting ways with the saffron outfit, Mr Sidhu has alleged that he had been asked to stay away from Punjab.

Without clarifying his future political course, he had obliquely hinted that he would cast his political lot with the side that works in the interest of Punjab. He had even appeared in a yellow turban, a colour now associated strongly with AAP.

Mr Sidhu’s resignation, along with that of his MLA wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu, had come as a blow to BJP, which is in alliance with the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab.

Former Delhi University vice chancellor Dinesh Singh also met the Delhi CM on Saturday evening. The meeting with the former DU VC lasted for about 20 minutes. The issue of the meet remains a suspense.