After resigning, Sidhu's wife questions BJP's silence on mafia

Amritsar, Oct 9: A day after resigning from the BJP, cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu's wife Navjot Kaur on Sunday questioned the party's silence on the mafia rule in Punjab.

The mafia that Kaur referred to is allegedly linked to the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is an ally of the Akali Dal in the ruling alliance in Punjab since 2007.

"Before joining the alliance, they should have told us that we are not supposed to open our mouth. Whatever wrong was happening, we were supposed to just look away and support the wrongdoings. We were supposed to support the entire mafia and not allowed to point out anything," Kaur, who resigned from the BJP on Saturday, told the media here.

Kaur accused Akali Dal leaders, especially those associated with Punjab's powerful Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia of running a mafia in the state. Majithia is the brother-in-law of Punjab Deputy Chief Minister and Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal, and younger brother of Sukhbir's wife and Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

Kaur justified delaying her resignation from the BJP 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," Kaur said.

Kaur, who was Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) -- a post one step below a minister -- had remained quite vocal about issues concerning her Amritsar East assembly constituency.

She often openly criticised the Punjab government, of which she was a functionary, for holding back funds and development projects in her constituency.

She said the Punjab BJP leadership was a divided house and no senior leader listened in the party.

Sidhu, who resigned as a nominated Rajya Sabha member in July this year, quit the BJP last month. He later launched a political forum, Awaaz-e-Punjab.

IANS