Five days after former MLA Navjot Kaur Sidhu announced her resignation from the Congress, the party’s Punjab affairs in-charge and former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel on Friday clarified that she has been expelled.

Reacting sharply to the move, Navjot Kaur took a dig at party leader Rahul Gandhi, using the ‘Pappu’ moniker, a term frequently employed by the opposition to target the Congress leader.

Baghel, who was at the residence of former Congress MLA Rajkumar Verka, addressed the media alongside Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring. He confirmed that while Navjot Kaur was previously under suspension, the party has now formalised her expulsion.

Responding to the expulsion on X, she launched a scathing attack on the party leadership. “Pappu has finally put a stamp on his name. A leader who thinks he is the only honest and knowledgeable person, totally unaware of the ground realities,” she wrote.

She alleged that a coterie surrounding the leadership was “selling tickets” and “enjoying luxuries” while keeping the leadership “in exile” from the truth. “He takes more than six months to react to an emergency call, by which time loss is inevitable,” she added, advising the leadership to be “more mindful, mature, and practical”.

The friction between Navjot Kaur Sidhu and the party leadership dates back to December 8 last year, when she was suspended from the primary membership. The disciplinary action followed her controversial claim that “one who gives a suitcase of ₹500 crore becomes the CM”.

“We always speak for Punjab and Punjabiyat… but do not have ₹500 crore to sit in the chief minister’s chair,” she had told the media after a meeting with governor Gulab Chand Kataria.

Navjot Kaur, the wife of former cricketer and Punjab Congress ex-chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, had previously served as a BJP MLA from Amritsar East before the couple joined the Congress ahead of the 2017 assembly polls. Her recent social media posts, including one welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Punjab on February 1, sparked speculation about a potential return to the BJP.

In her exit note, she also targeted Raja Warring, accusing him of colluding with chief minister Bhagwant Mann to “destroy the party”.

Baghel is currently touring Punjab to mobilise support for MGNREGA workers and addressed a gathering in Jandiala Guru.