Jagmit Singh Brar, former member of parliament from Congress party, has decided not to contest against former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu from Amritsar constitutency and in his place the congress has asked Surinder Singla, finance minister in Captain Amarinder Singh's government to file his nomination papers.
Sidhu and Singla both belong to Patiala. Amritsar, normally a congress stronghold, backed Sidhu in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls and sent him to parliament with a huge margin.
"There is no contest that could be said to be a cakewalk. We would have a tough battle but with Sidhu as the party candidate we should be in a position to retain our seat," Arun Jaitley admitted in a candid conversation with the newsmen after the Supreme court gave its judgment in favour of Sidhu in an 18 years old road rage case in which sixty five year old Gurnam Singh
died after a scuffle with Sidhu and his friend on a trifle issue of parking in front of state bank of Patiala where Sidhu was employed as an officer.
The BJP is upbeat about fielding Sidhu as its nominee because he has the ability to carry with him four assembly seats in the Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency.
Prakash Singh Badal, former chief minister of Punjab in his affidivite has admitted that he has assests worth Rs 9 crore which he owns jointly with his wife. Captain Amrinder Singh, Chief Minister of Punjab and former maharajha of Patiala has declared assests worth Rs 39 crore.
But Bibi Jagir Kaur, former president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee takes the cake by declaring properties worth (including moveable and immoveable) to the tune of Rs 89.50 crore. It would be interesting to wait and watch the declaration filed by Navjot Singh Sidhu.