New Innings, Tweets Sidhu After Joining Cong Ahead of Punjab Polls 

New Delhi: Beginning of a new inning. On the front foot........ Punjab, Punjabiyat & every Punjabi must win !!!, tweeted Navjot Singh Sidhu tweeted on Sunday after joining Congress.

Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday joined the Congress after meeting its Vice President Rahul Gandhi here, the party said.

Gandhi warmly welcomed Sidhu, a former BJP MP from Amritsar, into the party fold at his residence. Sidhu's wife had earlier joined the Congress. The Congress "welcomes Sidhu and thanks Gandhi for bringing like-minded leaders under the Congress umbrella", party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.

The 53-year-old former parliamentarian quit the BJP in September 2016. At the time, he alleged that he had been sidelined by the party, which had forced him to surrender his parliamentary seat of Amritsar for Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who eventually lost the constituency in 2014. Two months after Sidhu quit the BJP, his wife, Navjot Kaur Sidhu, joined the Congress.

"Known for straight taking, ideological commitment to the cause of nationalism as also wit and humour, we are certain that Congress party will be immensely strengthened in Punjab and elsewhere with the entry of Sidhu," said the statement posted on the party twitter handle.