Navjot Singh Sidhu

Updated: Feb 10, 2017, 12:16 IST

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Sidhu, as he is popularly known, has donned numerous hats - from being a cricketer, commentator, TV show guest/host to finally a politician. Quite like an adventurous batsman, he has not had a dull moment in his political life. His googly came in the form of his quitting the Rajya Sabha seat on BJP ticket which followed numerous speculations of his joining the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab.
Sidhu made his debut in the sport in 1983 at the age of 20 against West Indies and scored 19 runs. However, his brush with came much later, in 1987, where he scored four fifties in five matches during the Cricket World Cup. It was a gradual progress for him in cricket but got well known for his explosive batting style in the opening slot. He brought his cricketing career to an end in 1999.
Following his stint on the pitch, Sidhu took up a career as a commentator, when India toured Sri Lanka in 2001. On this pitch, he gained his popularity with his one-liners and usage of uncanny metaphors for various cricketing situations. He was, however, sacked by ESPN-Star Sports for swearing on live television which led him to jump ship to Ten Sports channel. Later, he went back to ESPN-Star Sports to continue commenting in Hindi.
Sidhu has also worked for the small screen in a host of comedy programmes, but eventually, he dropped out due to political reasons. His stint in politics began when he won the Amritsar seat for Bharatiya Janata Party in the general elections of 2004.
He had to resign from the seat due to a court case against him. He was arrested in 1991 for an assault and causing death for which he was lodged in Patiala jail. He was found guilty in 2006 and was sentenced to three years in prison. He had appealed against the verdict to the apex court in 2007 which stayed his conviction, permitting him to continue his political career.
He went back after winning the by-election on the Amritsar seat. He kept the seat in the 2009 general elections. His ties with the BJP took a turn for the worst when the party fielded Arun Jaitley from Amritsar in 2014. But after keeping him in the margins for over two years, BJP sent him to the Rajya Sabha in April, 2016. He resigned from the Rajya Sabha seat on 18 July, 2016, strengthening rumours of his plans to join the Aam Aadmi Party.
However, he along with Pargat Singh and Bains brothers formed Aawaaz-e-Punjab, while keeping everyone in the dark about his future course of action in politics. On 15th January, 2017 he joined the Indian National Congress in the presence of Rahul Gandhi just 15 days before the Punjab Assembly election and got ticket for Amritsar East constituency.

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