Shortly after completing his Pakistan tour, cricketer-turned-commentator-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday ran into the arms of hundreds of BJP-SAD workers. They extended a rousing welcome to him and reminded him of the challenge ahead in his new innings.
As Sidhu stepped into India at the Wagah border, he was virtually mobbed by hundreds of waiting BJP-SAD workers.
His plans to chat with the media near the Zero Line went haywire after he found himself surrounded by a gang who wanted to garland and hug him.
"Lagda swagat kuchh jyada e ho gaya (It appears that I have received more of a welcome than I deserve)," Sidhu reacted while pointing towards his clothes, drenched in perspiration.
Interestingly, former BJP minister Baldev Raj Chawla and former Amritsar deputy commissioner Sarbjit Singh, who were ticket aspirants for the prestigious Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, also came to receive Sidhu at Wagah.
In his first press conference as a BJP nominee for the LS seat, Sidhu promised to shift permanently from Patiala to Amritsar. "You send me to the Lok Sabha and I won't even go to attend a funeral in Patiala," he reiterated.
Sidhu claimed that truthfulness was the aim of his life and he would religiously stick to his promises to the electorate. "I have never demanded anything from anybody in my life. The party high command directed me to contest and I found no reasons to say no to them," he said.
{{/usCountry}}Sidhu claimed that truthfulness was the aim of his life and he would religiously stick to his promises to the electorate. "I have never demanded anything from anybody in my life. The party high command directed me to contest and I found no reasons to say no to them," he said.
{{/usCountry}}Sidhu lost his temper when he was asked a question about his 'outsider' status.
"Atal Bihari Vajpayee is living in Delhi and contesting the polls from Lucknow, is he not Lakhnavi? You tell me am I not Punjabi? Don't involve me in these petty issues," he thundered.
Sidhu addressed a rally at Khasa, enroute to Amritsar. Before entering Amritsar, he took a round of Chheratta town and addressed an election rally there too.