Navjot Singh Sidhu to BJP: Fourth time was the last straw

Navjot Singh Sidhu broke his silence on Wednesday and in an angst-ridden speech full of Urdu couplets accused his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, of forcing him to stay away from Punjab. This, the former cricketer claimed, was the main reason he had resigned his Rajya Sabha membership. “I was asked to stay away from Punjab,” he declared.

Mr Sidhu then gave vent to his rage through his now famous short poems — “Kaise chhor de Navjot Singh Sidhu apni jad, kaise chhor de Navjot Singh Sidhu apna watan...”

He reminded the media how Atal Behari Vajpayee as Prime Minister had asked him to contest at short notice.

Then, taking a dig at the present dispensation, he said, “Then the Modi wave came... it sank not just the Opposition but Sidhu as well.”

Had it been the first time they had asked him to leave Punjab he would have tolerated it, he said, “But this was the fourth time they asked me to leave Punjab, and I won’t do that.” He added, “No party is greater than Punjab and the country.”