Navjot Kaur Sidhu suspended from Congress party over her controversial statement
The development comes after Navjot Kaur Sidhu caused a political furore, claiming "one who gives a suitcase of Rs 500 crore becomes the CM". She is the wife of former Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Navjot Kaur Sidhu has been suspended from the Congress party with immediate effect over her controversial statement. "Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu is hereby suspended from the primary membership of the party with immediate effect," said Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring in an order. This comes hours after Sidhu made a controversial statement, saying that "one who gives a suitcase of Rs 500 crore becomes the CM in Punjab". She also levelled serious allegations of corruption against the Congress leadership. "We always speak for Punjab and Punjabiyat...but do not have Rs 500 crore which we can give to sit in chief minister's chair," Kaur, the wife of former Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, had told reporters on Saturday after meeting Governor Gulab Chand Kataria.
Navjot Kaur's clarrification after political row
However, after a political row erupted over her remarks, Navjot Kaur claimed her straight comment was given a twist. "I am shocked to see the twist given to a straight comment saying that the Congress never demanded anything from us. Asked about Navjot becoming a chief ministerial face from any other party, I said we have no money to offer for a CM's post," Kaur said in a post on X on Sunday evening. Following her statement, the BJP and AAP claimed that her comments exposed the "ugly truth" of how the grand old party functions, and the "money bag politics" it indulges in.
BJP hits out at Congress
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) slammed Congress after Navjot Kaur Sidhu's statement. BJP MP and national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said it is a "serious allegation" against the Congress leadership. "She has said that in the Congress, one has to give at least Rs 500 crore in a suitcase to get the CM's post, or else it's not possible," he charged. "The disease of corruption has reached to this extent in the Congress, which is neck deep in corruption," he alleged, and targeted the Congress leadership, saying, "Neither the country, nor the Constitution, nor the party itself are safe in their hands. People of the country must remain alert...They are the enemy of democracy within the party and outside as well," the BJP leader said, adding that Kaur's remarks have "completely exposed them". Trivedi said that this is not the first time such allegations have been levelled against the Congress.
Past allegations cited by BJP
Earlier, Congress leader Margaret Alva, in her book titled 'Courage and Commitment', had written how in the 2008 Karnataka assembly polls all seats were being auctioned on the highest bidding, the BJP leader charged. "Corruption and the Congress are two sides of the same coin. Be it the issue of development or allocation of seats, corruption is the first criteria in both cases," Trivedi alleged.
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