Chandigarh: Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu’s wife and former MLA Navjot Kaur Sidhu has staked claim to the Congress ticket from Chandigarh in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. With Navjot throwing her hat in the ring, the number of contenders for the Congress ticket from the Union Territory has reached three.
Former railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and ex-Union minister Manish Tewari have also been vying for the ticket from Chandigarh. Presently, BJP MP Kirron Kher represents Chandigarh. Navjot Kaur Sidhu, former MLA from Amritsar (East) and former chief parliamentary secretary, submitted her application to the Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee on Friday.
“I am submitting my application for your consideration to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from the constituency of UT Chandigarh. All the record of my work is attached. I hope you will consider my request and give me an opportunity to serve the people of the beautiful city,” she wrote to Pradeep Chhabra, president, Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee.
“Checking brain drain and getting jobs for youths here will be my agenda (for Chandigarh),” Navjot told PTI Saturday. “I want the children to get good education and also get work here so that they do not have to leave the country,” she said. On Bansal and Tewari also vying for the seat, the former MLA said, “It is the party to decide (on giving ticket). If Pawan Bansal gets it, I will be the first person to help him out.”
Reacting to Navjot applying for the Congress ticket from Chandigarh, Bansal, who had been a four-time MP from the Union Territory, exuded confidence that the party high command would repose faith in him and give him the ticket. “Everybody has the right to apply for a ticket from anywhere. But it is the party high command which finally decides. I am pretty sure that because of my work in Chandigarh, being well versed with the affairs of the city, and the rapport that I have with the people here, the party will certainly repose faith in me and give me the ticket again from here,” he said.