Captain Amarinder Singh welcomes 'star campaigner' Navjot Sidhu in Congress

Calling Navjot Singh Sidhu the 'star campaigner' in the Punjab assembly polls for the Congress, party leader Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday welcomed the cricketer-turned politician and said his inclusion would further strengthen the party.

Sidhu was formally inducted into the Congress by the party's vice-president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi today.

Singh, who had a telephonic conversation with Sidhu, welcomed him into the party and said it was a 'great news'.

Besides being the party's choice for contesting the Amritsar East seat, Sidhu is known for his wit and humour besides being strongly nationalist.

The Congress Party, in a statement, thanked Rahul Gandhi for bringing like-minded people under the party umbrella.

Sidhu, who hails from Patiala, became MP for the first time contesting on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket from Amritsar in 2004.

He later successfully contested the Amritsar bye-election. He retained the seat in the 2009 general elections.

In April 2016, he took oath as a member of the Rajya Sabha, but resigned in July 2016. Soon thereafter he also quit from the BJP and, with the aim of fighting all anti-Punjab forces, formed a new political front - Awaaz-e-Punjab, along with former hockey player Pargat Singh.

Dr. Navjot Kaur Sidhu, Navjot's wife, had joined the Congress on November 28, 2016, but the ex-cricketer could not immediately follow suit because of certain professional commitments.

--PTI