Jaitley Takes a Dig at Navjot Sidhu at Gambhir’s BJP Induction

Arun Jaitley called Navjot Singh Sidhu an ‘overt Pakistani sympathiser’.

Gautam Gambhir joined the BJP on Friday, 22 March 2019.

(Photo: IANS)

Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir on Friday joined the BJP in the presence of Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

"I am joining this party (BJP) after getting influenced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision. I am honoured to get the opportunity. I will work to take this country forward and make it a better place to live in," the former cricketer told the media at the press meet on Friday.

Gambhir, a resident of Rajinder Nagar in Delhi, was a high-profile campaigner for Jaitley’s 2014 contest in Punjab’s Amritsar seat which the BJP lost.

While speaking to the media at the BJP headquarters, Arun Jaitley also took time to take a dig at another former cricketer who was part of the party in the initial years of his political career.

Navjot Singh Sidhu, Congress minister from Punjab, was in fact also called a ‘Pakistani sympathiser’ by Jaitley.

“If you see Gambhir’s tweets from his playing days and if you remember that one famous visual of his when he faced unpleasantness from the Pakistan team… from our old experience, we saw another cricketer who has now become an overt Pakistani sympathiser, with Gambhir we know at least he won’t go that route.”

Arun Jaitley

The BJP did not declare the constituency from where Gambhir will contest but informed sources said he may contest from the New Delhi constituency that’s currently held by BJP's Meenakshi Lekhi.