Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, whose journey on reality show Bigg Boss ended on Saturday, said that even though it was difficult to be on the show, he never planned to leave it mid-way.
According to Sidhu, who is an MP from Amritsar, his party BJP asked him to quit the show because he was required to campaign for the upcoming Gujarat polls.
"It was not that I had planned to leave the show mid way. It was the situation that demanded me to be out of the house," Sidhu told reporters here.
"It is an unfortunate and unexpected thing... I did not expect I would have to be out of the show," he said.
Sidhu, 49, quit after a month-long stay on the reality show.
"It was my wife who appealed to the channel, to let me quit the show, as Nitin Gadkari called her up saying I would be needed to campaign for BJP in the upcoming Gujarat elections," he said.
Sidhu's sudden exit from the show is raising eyebrows, especially considering it was always known that elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat were around the corner.
"It is not that I had not informed party people about going in the show. They knew about it. When I went for the show, the date was not fixed for campaigns. I got to know through my wife that the campaign dates have got rescheduled to an earlier date," Sidhu said.
"I have not met them yet. But I must say the ouster from the show was sudden and surprising for me. I was immersed in the show and suddenly had to leave it. I was surprised and feeling awkward," he added.
While on the show, Sidhu underwent a Layered Voice Analysis (LAV) during the reality show. Sidhu seemed quite positive and friendly with all the contestants during his stay.
The test is conducted to measure the stress level and to understand the overall psychological state of the subject being interviewed.
Sidhu was asked around 20 questions, not just about his cricket career, but also about his thoughts on co-participants of Bigg Boss 6.
When he was asked if he ever cheated during his international cricket career, he had said, "In Sharjah, I took Courtney Walsh's catch at the boundary and it helped us win the match. But I'm repentant about it."
Sidhu was the third former cricketer after Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds and Indian batsman Vinod Kambli to have participated in the reality show.
