A doctor-turned-politician, Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu, on attacked the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) from left, right and centre, alleging that the saffron brigade never stood by her whenever she raised a banner of revolt against its ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
She also questioned the BJP’s silence on the mafia rule in Punjab, allegedly linked to the ruling SAD.
At the same time, she made it amply clear that she would not resign from the Assembly and continue to carry out development works in her constituency.
A legislator from Amritsar East, Dr Sidhu’s allegations came a day after she put in her papers from the saffron party. Her husband and former parliamentarian Navjot Singh Sidhu had already resigned both from the Rajya Sabha and the BJP.
Not sparing even the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, along with Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, Revenue Minister Bikram Majithia and Punjab BJP’s former chief Kamal Sharma, she accused them of creating hurdles in executing development works in her constituency.
She alleged that they kept her husband away from Punjab politics, pressurised the BJP high command for “cancelling his ticket from Amritsar seat for the 2014 lok Sabha polls and brought Arun Jaitley here”.
Dr Sidhu alleged that the party always asked her to keep “quiet” and its leaders never stood by her whenever she raised voice against SAD. She also claimed that BJP workers were being harassed at the SAD’s behest.
“I always thought of raising voice against wrongdoings...When I demanded money for my area, funds were not released. I was told such things happen in politics. I approached my party and leaders many a times for funds,” she said.
“They told me to keep my mouth shut and said that funds would be released soon. I was told I should not worry if something wrong is happening. There is an alliance, you do not speak against it,” she told the reporters.
Kaur said, “99 per cent of BJP workers are being harassed at the behest of SAD. Nobody is listening to their grievances.”
She said that she brought to the party's notice that SAD was “misbehaving with our workers and funds for development projects were not being released. They (BJP leaders) took it lightly and never stood by me. Also, they did not take action against BJP leaders who were involved in corruption”.
Dr Sidhu said that the party “should have told us beforehand that we have to keep quiet even if we see scam, mafia raj and cover all sorts of scams” and that she did not join politics to keep mum on wrongdoings taking place in the state.
In another starling claims, she maintained that the RSS’ late leader Jagdish Gagneja was also against the continuance of the BJP’s alliance with the SAD. Gagneja was RSS’ deputy president in Punjab and was attributed for expanding RSS and BJP’s base in rural segments.
“Gagneja had said that non-performer BJP leaders should not be given ticket again. He was also against BJP's alliance with SAD. He had said that he would make every effort so that the assembly elections are fought without partnering with SAD,” she claimed.
“It was his stand even on his last day. I met him frequently. He was the person who held me back from resigning. When Sidhu (her husband) resigned, he was very angry,” she added.
On her future plans, Dr Sidhu said that she “will sit with the people of Awaaz-e-Punjab, ask them about their plan and then take a call”.
Making it clear that there was “no reason for resigning from the Assembly”, she justified delaying her resignation by saying that interests for her constituency were involved.
“I did not resign earlier so that there is no by-election in my constituency. A lot of funds were to come to my constituency. I did not want the funds to go back,” she said.
“When you are an MlA, you can supervise work in your area. I do not want a by-poll in my constituency. I do not want that funds remained unutilised and are misused,” she said.
She alleged that no development took place in her area in the last 60 years. “I fought very hard and even approached the Prime Minister. Then only I got Rs 78 crore released. Of this, Rs 45 crore was released in the last two-three months. A by-poll will stop the development work. 70-80 per cent of the work has been completed in my area,” she added.
She also maintained that the state BJP leadership was a “divided house” and no senior leader listened in the party.