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India's ruling party leader resigns from parliament

Xinhua, July 18, 2016 Adjust font size:

A leader from India's ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) resigned on Monday from the parliament, officials said.

Navjot Singh Siddhu was nominated to the Upper House of the parliament locally known as Rajya Sabha in April.

Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha P.J. Kurien announced in the House that Siddhu's resignation was accepted.

The 20-day "monsoon session" of the parliament began Monday in New Delhi.

Siddhu's resignation came amid speculation that he was likely to join India's newly Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or common man's party ahead of next year's local elections in northern Indian state of Punjab.

AAP is aggressively campaigning for the upcoming elections in Punjab and has won four parliamentary seats in the state during the 2014 general elections.

Siddhu joined politics after retiring from international cricket. A well-known cricket commentator, Siddhu has a penchant for jokes and over the time has emerged as a known face on Indian television comedy shows.

"The people of Punjab are looking for a change," Sidhu's told a local news channel just before he resigned from the parliament.

Sidhu's wife Navjot Kaur is also a lawmaker in Punjab and local media reports quoting sources said she was also set to resign.

During the 2014 polls, Siddhu was asked to make way for Arun Jaitley to fight from his constituency Amritsar, which he had won twice. Jaitley however lost to Congress party's Amarinder Singh. Endit