Sidhu bats for INDIA bloc amid Punjab Cong's opposition to allying with AAP

Amid resistance in his party on allying with the ruling AAP in Punjab, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday said the opposition INDIA bloc stands like a "tall mountain" and its grandeur will not be affected by a storm here and there.

"Punjab must understand that this is an election to choose India's prime minister and not Punjab's chief minister," he said in a post on 'X'.

The cricketer-turned-politician's statement follows remarks by several Punjab Congress leaders, including state unit chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa, opposing an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party in the state ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

"The I.N.D.I.A alliance stands like a tall mountain … a storm here and there will not affect its Grandeur !!! Any attempt to sabotage and breach this shield to safeguard our Democracy will prove futile," he tweeted.

Sidhu's remark comes days after the Punjab Congress leadership led by Warring termed the arrest of party MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira in a 2015 drugs case "political vendetta".

The arrest of the Bholath legislator has widened the rift between the Congress and the AAP in Punjab.

With both parties being members of the INDIA bloc, Congress leaders in Punjab had earlier indicated that they were against any kind of alliance with the ruling AAP in the state.

On September 1, the INDIA bloc in its Mumbai meeting resolved to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls together "as far as possible", asserting seat-sharing arrangements in states will be concluded at the earliest in a "collaborative spirit of give-and-take".

The opposition coalition leaders set up a 14-member coordination committee that will act as the highest decision-making body of the alliance and initiate work on seat sharing. It also exuded confidence that the new front would easily defeat the BJP.