Chandigarh: Senior Congress leader and former MLA Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu on Saturday announced that she has quit the Congress party, triggering renewed political turbulence in Punjab. Her decision came just ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the state and follows weeks of public criticism of the party’s Punjab leadership.
Dr Sidhu, wife of former Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, said she had bid farewell to a party where, according to her, hardworking and capable leaders are no longer heard and decisions are taken on the basis of personal interests. She alleged that internal democracy within the Congress had weakened significantly and that sincere voices were being sidelined.
Taking a direct swipe at Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, she accused the state leadership of taking decisions that were harming the organisation. It may be recalled that Raja Warring had suspended her from the party on December 8, 2025. Since then, Dr Sidhu had been openly critical of senior party leaders, a stance that also drew opposition from within the Congress ranks.
In recent months, several of her statements had caused a stir within the party. She had claimed that only those who could offer huge sums of money emerged as chief ministers, and alleged that ticket distribution involved financial considerations. In another remark, she suggested that the presence of multiple chief ministerial aspirants within the Punjab Congress was weakening the party and pushing it towards defeat.
Dr Sidhu had also earlier declared that she was preparing to contest the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections from the Amritsar East seat. While maintaining that the decision to grant a ticket rests with the party high command, she had said her own preparations were already underway. In the 2022 Assembly elections, she had lost from the same seat to Aam Aadmi Party candidate Jeevan Jyot Kaur.
Her exit is being seen as another setback for the Punjab Congress, which has been grappling with factionalism and leadership disputes. Political observers believe the move could further intensify the churn within the state unit at a time when the party is struggling to regain its footing ahead of the next Assembly polls.
