(rptg, correcting para four)

Patiala, Dec 7 (UNI) Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu has indicated that he would re-enter his hometown Patiala after ending a three-year self-imposed exile.

''I will now definitely go to Patiala. Why not? I have stayed away from it in the last three years. I have every right to go there now,'' Sidhu - Sherry to his friends in Patiala - said.

Friends of Sherry, who met him in Chandigarh yesterday, said here today that he planned to go to Amritsar on December 10. From there, he would then come to Patiala and tour other parts of Punjab where the poll campaign of the Akali-BJP combine is in full swing for assembly polls due in February next year.

Sidhu, the former MP from Amritsar, had vowed that he would not visit his hometown of Patiala when the BJP had fielded him from the Sikh holy city in 2004 parliamentary polls.

Having adopted Amritsar as his second home, Sidhu vowed never to enter Patiala till he remained Amritsar MP He kept his word even though his wife, namesake Navjot Sidhu, continued working in a government hospital as a doctor.

Patiala is also hometown of Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Sidhu's name has been propped up to oppose him in the forthcoming assembly polls.

Sidhu's friends said that he planned to first go to Amritsar to thank the people for electing him to the Lok Sabha and for their support after he was last week convicted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court for causing death of a Patiala resident 18 years ago in a road rage case.

Sidhu had resigned from the Lok Sabha immediately after being convicted on December 1.

They said that Sidhu was likely to visit the Golden Temple on December 10 and perform Ardas there now that he has fulfilled his vow not to visit his home town after being elected from Amritsar.

UNI XC JN PK GC1548