Patiala, Jan 13 Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu was Saturday afternoon released from the jail in his hometown Patiala after the Supreme Court granted him bail Friday.The former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and popular TV host immediately got down to do what he does best these days - talking. And at the firing end of his tirade was Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.'I challenge this Raja ('King' - Amarinder Singh belongs to the erstwhile royal family of Patiala). I will fully campaign for the Akali Dal-BJP candidates in the (forthcoming) Punjab assembly polls,' Sidhu told a few hundred supporters who had gathered to meet him outside the jail.His bail plea was accepted by the Supreme Court Friday and he was released after legal formalities were completed in local courts.Sidhu was taken into custody Thursday evening at Chandigarh after he surrendered in a court there.He and his friend Rupinder Singh Sandhu were accused of causing the death of 65-year-old Gurnam Singh after a scuffle over parking in December 1988. They were charged of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.After coming out of the jail, Sidhu acknowledged his supporters and addressed them.He later went to Sikh religious shrine Gurudwara Dukhniwaran and famous Hindu temple of goddess Kali to pay obeisance.His wife and other family members accompanied him from the Gurudwara. His wife, Navjot Kaur - a government physician by profession - said she had no inclination to join politics though her name has surfaced as a possible candidate for the by-poll to the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat that Sidhu vacated.The Supreme Court would take up Sidhu's appeal against his conviction and three-year jail sentence Jan 17.
(c) Indo-Asian News Service
