Hockey Olympian and Punjab’s ruling Shiromani Akali Dal legislator Pargat Singh and two Independent legislators, Balwinder Singh Bains and Simarjit Singh Bains, have also joined hands with Sidhu.
The ‘Awaaz-e-Punjab’ — a political front not a party — will be formally launched next week in Chandigarh, party insiders said.
They were featured in a poster, also posted on Pargat Singh’s Facebook post.
They announced the political front to contest Punjab assembly elections, slated early next year.
Former captain of the Indian hockey team Pargat Singh, the sitting Akali Dal legislator from Jalandhar Cantt assembly seat, was placed under suspension along with another Akali legislator Inderbir Singh Bolaria for “anti-party activities” on July 19.
“Pargat Singh, Bains brothers and we have formed a fourth alternative,” Navjot Kaur Sidhu, wife of the cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Sidhu, said.
Sidhu had resigned from the Rajya Sabha on July 18, sparking off speculation that he may join the AAP.
Aam Aadmi Party’s state unit recently sacked chief Sucha Singh Chottepur, and its suspended Member of Parliament Dharamvir Gandhi are likely to join the front along with AAP and Akali Dal rebels.
Simranjit Bains said the front would contest all 117 seats in Punjab.
Senior AAP leader Durgesh Pathak said that Navjot Singh Sidhu’s move of forming a political front in Punjab will have no effect on the party.
“There will be no effect on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab. The party will keep on with its work in Punjab,” Pathak, who has played a key role in building the party in Punjab, said.
The AAP said it hoped Sidhu would continue his fight against corruption and Punjab’s ruling Badal family.
Senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh said: “The Aam Aadmi Party has full faith that Navjot Singh Sidhu, his wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu and Pargat Singh, as part of their new political front will continue to fight against corruption and the Badal family.”
Terming Sidhu’s new political front ‘Awaaz-e-Punjab’ as comprising of ‘disgruntled’ leaders, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said it would hardly have any impact on the state’s politics.
Addressing public gatherings in Lambi area, he said the people have time and again reposed faith in pro-people and development-oriented policies of the ruling Akali Dal-BJP alliance.
He said the ‘Awaaz-e-Punjab’ front was a brainchild of ‘fugitive’ leaders who want to satiate their lust for power.
Badal said much more such mushrooms would crop up in the state in the coming poll season but people would extend their support only to the ruling alliance.
Reiterating that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was like an empty vessel which makes a loud noise, Badal dared Arvind Kejriwal and company to list even a single pro-people initiative taken by its government in Delhi.
He said it was on record that the AAP government in Delhi has not fulfilled even a single promise made to the people during polls.
Badal said the AAP was just a party of “hollow slogans” and “false promises”, adding that nothing good for the state and its people could be expected from these people.
He said while on the one hand, the Delhi government headed by Arvind Kejriwal has done nothing for the weaker and underprivileged sections of society, on the other, the SAD-BJP alliance government in the state has taken several pro-poor initiatives. (IANS)
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