NATIONAL: Sidhu Wife Suspended for ₹500-Crore Remark
Explosive Words Ignite Party Fury
In a swift crackdown, the Punjab Congress unit on December 8, 2025, booted Dr. Navjot Kaur Sidhu from its ranks, ending her primary membership right then and there.
The move came hot on the heels of her weekend bombshell, where she quipped that snagging the chief minister’s chair demands a whopping Rs.500 crore payoff.
Punjab chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring signed off on the suspension, calling her outburst a breach too far for party discipline.
This isn’t just paperwork; it’s a gut punch to a family long entwined with Congress’s Punjab saga, where loyalties run as deep as the feuds.
For Kaur, a former MLA herself, the fallout strips away years of grassroots grind in one fell stroke.
The Saturday Spark That Scorched
Kaur dropped the line during a media huddle outside the Punjab Raj Bhavan on December 6, fresh from chatting with Governor Gulab Chand Kataria.
She laid out her husband’s playbook: Navjot Singh Sidhu, the ex-cricketer turned firebrand leader, would dive back into the fray only if high command crowns him the unchallenged CM pick for the 2027 polls.
“We fight for Punjab’s soul,” she insisted, then pivoted with a zinger: no suitcase stuffed with half a billion rupees means no gaddi.
That offhand jab, laced with sarcasm about cash-for-power games, lit up social media and news wires overnight.
Reporters pressed if anyone twisted their arm for funds; she shot back that no demands came their way, but the big payers always climb the ladder. It’s the kind of raw talk that rallies fans but rattles the brass.
Party Elders Slam the Door Shut
Senior voices like Pratap Singh Bajwa, the party’s Lok Sabha heavyweight from Bathinda, didn’t mince words in backing the boot.
“Her claims lack any backing and paint the party in a terrible light,” Bajwa told reporters, labeling the episode a needless self-inflicted wound. Echoing him, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, the ex-deputy CM, called it “regrettable,” urging focus on unity over unsubstantiated shade.
Within hours, the official order hit: “Dr. Navjot Kaur Sidhu is suspended forthwith.” It’s a classic Congress play, nipping dissent before it festers, especially with Sidhu’s history of bucking the line during his 2021-22 stint as state chief.
Kaur’s Quick Backpedal and Broader Barbs
By Sunday, Kaur fired off a fiery X post, crying foul over “twists” to her plain speak.
“Shocked at how they’ve spun this,” she wrote, stressing Congress never shook them down and that her point was simple: the Sidhus peddle vision, not vaults of cash. Yet the damage stuck, with rivals piling on glee.
The BJP’s Sudhanshu Trivedi crowed about “routinized graft from top to toe,” while AAP’s Baltej Pannu demanded full disclosure.
Even as Congress circles wagons, whispers grow of Sidhu eyeing exits, tired of the infighting that sidelined him post-2022 poll drubbing.
Punjab’s Poll Powder Keg Heats Up
This dust-up revives old ghosts in Punjab’s tangled politics, where CM dreams often clash with cash rumors and caste calculus.
With 2027 looming, Kaur’s suspension spotlights the high command’s grip tightening on a fractious state unit, home to five wannabe faces from Channi to Bhatti.
For the Sidhus, it’s personal: a couple who rode waves from Amritsar rallies to Delhi dust-ups, now adrift in a party that once handed Navjot the reins.
Will this push him toward AAP’s open arms or BJP’s old haunts? Only time, and maybe another presser, will tell.