AAP, BJP demand Congress explain Navjot Kaur Sidhu’s ‘₹500-crore suitcase’ remark

A day after former cricketer and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu’s wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu sparked a controversy with her remark that the person who gives “a suitcase of ₹500 crore” becomes the Chief Minister, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday (December 7, 2025) demanded an answer from the Congress party on the pointed allegation.

“Congress leader Navjot Kaur Sidhu has exposed the politics of ‘money bags’ in the Congress by publicly stating that the Chief Minister’s chair in Punjab costs ₹500 crore, which her husband, Navjot Singh Sidhu, could not pay,” BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh alleged.

When the wife of a senior Congress leader herself admitted that the Chief Minister’s position could be ‘purchased’ in a deal, it demonstrated a complete moral collapse in the Congress, Mr. Chugh said in a statement. This showed the party’s internal functioning had reduced Punjab’s politics to a money-driven auction system instead of a democratic leadership process, he said.

Ms. Sidhu’s remark had “exposed the ugly truth of how the Congress functions, how leadership is decided, and how Punjab’s interests are sidelined for personal ambitions and monetary deals”, the AAP’s Punjab general secretary Baltej Pannu said.

Terming the remark as “deeply disturbing”, Mr. Pannu said the people of Punjab deserved an answer from the Congress.

On Saturday (December 6, 2025), while speaking to media persons here, Ms. Sidhu had said Mr. Navjot Singh Sidhu would return to active politics only if the Congress party declared him as its chief ministerial face in Punjab. Her husband and she had always stood for Punjab and ‘Punjabiyat’, “but do not have ₹500 crore to offer to any party”, she said, adding, “The one who gives a suitcase of ₹500 crore becomes the Chief Minister.”