Political drama unravels in Punjab: Amarinder Singh claims Navjot Kaur wasn't denied Amritsar ticket; Sidhu says wife would never lie

Punjab Minister and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu backed his wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu’s claims that she was denied ticket due to state Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Meanwhile, Amarinder denied Kaur’s claim that she was refused a ticket and instead said that it was she who rejected the offer. “Ticket allocation was done by the Congress high command in Delhi, and they had chosen not to accept Navjot Kaur’s application for the ticket to contest from Chandigarh. Chandigarh seat does not come under Punjab and thus I had no role in the selection of a candidate from there,” the chief minister said in a statement. “However, had I been asked, I would frankly tell the high command that Pawan Bansal, the chosen candidate of the party, was a better choice. She had been offered ticket from Amritsar and Bathinda, but she refused the same,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_3346704” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Navjot Singh Sidhu. PTI[/caption] Responding to this claim by Punjab chief minister, Navjot Singh on Thursday while addressing a press conference asserted, “My wife has the courage and the moral authority that she would never lie.” Navjot Kaur wanted to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Chandigarh, but the leader was denied a ticket from the constituency. Congress fielded former Union Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal from the seat. Following this, there were reports that Navjot Kaur might contest from Amritsar, the coveted seat from where Amarinder Singh had won against BJP’s Arun Jaitley in the 2014 general elections. However, the party fielded sitting lawmaker Gurjit Singh Aujla from there. Earlier, Navjot Kaur had told ANI, “Captain Sahib (Amarinder Singh) and Asha Kumari think Madam Sidhu does not deserve an MP ticket. I was denied the ticket from Amritsar on the ground that I could not win.” Punjab, where 13 parliamentary seats are at stake will go to polls on 19 May. With inputs from ANI