"Bhagwant Mann Was Ready To Be My Deputy": Navjot Sidhu's Big Claim

Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu has claimed that Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had approached him once expressing his readiness to join the party.

Mr Sidhu said this during an interview to a media outlet when asked about rumours that he may join the BJP and whether the party had approached him. He shared a clip of the interview on his X handle.

There was no immediate response from Mann to Mr Sidhu's claims.

"I can tell you one thing about who had approached (me). Bhagwant Mann sahab had come to me. If he tells, I will even tell him the place (where they met)," Mr Sidhu said.

"He told me paaji, I am ready to be your deputy if I get him to join the Congress. And he also told me that if you come to the Aam Aadmi Party, still he was ready to be my deputy," the Congress leader said.

Mr Sidhu further claimed that he told Mr Mann that he is committed to Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and it's not possible for him to leave them.

Mr Sidhu said he told Mann that if he wants, he is welcome to join the Congress and that he should talk to the party leadership in Delhi.

After this, there was no further discussion, he added.

Mr Sidhu said his sole aim is to serve the people of Punjab.

He targeted the Mann-led AAP government over Punjab's "mounting debt", saying, "They move in aircraft and luxury vehicles but debt has to be paid by Punjabis."

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)