Navjot Singh Sidhu's stature too small to affect BJP in Punjab: Kailash Vijaywargiya

INDORE: BJP has downplayed crossing over of its former MP Navjot Singh Sidhu to Congress, saying his exit won't make any impact in poll-bound Punjab, where the saffron party is at the helm in coalition with the SAD.

"Sidhu is a cricketer of yesteryears. He got identity in politics due to the BJP. He became a political leader due to BJP. So, there is no impact on BJP due to his joining of the Congress," BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya told reporters here today.

Referring to the exit of Jan Sangh founder Balraj Madhok, he said that development too had not made any impact then.

"There was no impact on the party even when Jan Sangh founder Balraj Madhok had left the outfit. In comparison to him, Sidhu's stature is very small," he added.

The cricketer turned politician, who had represented Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, recently shifted his loyalty to the Congress and said it was like his "gharwapsi".

Subsequently, he filed nomination to contest Amritsar East Assembly seat, vacated by his wife Navjot Kaur who had joined Congress last November.

Pujnab goes to polls on February 4.

Responding to a query of a reporter that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had showed his torn kurta at a rally in Uttarakhand, Vijayvargiya said nobody can become poor by resorting to such act.

"How come a person wearing a torn kurta spent holidays on foreign land," the BJP leader quipped.

He said demonetisation of high value tenders has benefited the poor on a large scale.