Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu formally joined the Congress part on Sunday after meeting party vice-president Rahul Gandhi at his residence in Delhi.
This has come almost four months after he officially resigned from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He had left the party citing the reason of getting sidelined.
As he embarks into a new journey, here is a brief timeline of his political career.
2004: After joining BJP, Sidhu won a ticket from the Amritsar seat in the Indian general elections.
2006: He resigned from Lok Sabha following a case of homicide in a road rage incident happend in 1988. He appealed to the Supreme Court which suspended his sentence.
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2007: He won the Lok Sabha by-election from Amritsar.
2009: He contested the 2009 general elections and retained Amritsar.
2014: To make Arun Jaitley stand in the election, he did not contest the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Arun Jaitley had lost to Congress leader Capt Amarinder Singh.
Despite getting an offer to contest from other seat, he declined.
2016: He was nominated as Rajya Sabha member by the BJP government.
July18, 2016: Sidhu resigned from the Rajya Sabha.
Subsequently, there were negotiations between Sidhu and the Aam Aadmi Party convenor but the talks failed.
After refusing to join AAP, Sidhu formed his own party Awaz-e-Punjab (AeP) along with hockey player-turned-politician and Bains brothers.
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Sidhu's wife Navjot Kaur had joined Congress in November last year leading to speculation that he may follow suit.
Navjot Kaur along with Pargat Singh, a former Akali Dal legislator who had joined hands with Sidhu to form the outfit Awaaz-E Punjab, had joined Congress after the Sidhus left the BJP.
