New Delhi, Jul 18 (PTI): Bharatiya Janata Party leader Navjot Singh Sidhu resigned from Rajya Sabha on Monday amid rising speculation that he could join Aam Aadmi Party.

The resignation of Sidhu, a former retired cricketer who was nominated to the Rajya Sabha on April 22, has been accepted by Chairman Hamid Ansari with immediate effect.

While Sidhu, 52, was not available for comment, there is talk of him joining the Aam Aadmi Party ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections and he may be made the party's face in the state.

“Nominated member Navjot Singh Sidhu today tendered his resignation from Rajya Sabha and the Chairman has accepted his resignation with immediate effect,” Gurdeep Sappal, OSD to the RS Chairman told the news agency.

Rajya Sabha deputy chairman P.J. Kurien also announced in the House that the Chairman has accepted the resignation of Sidhu.

Sources said that Sidhu has been miffed with the party over the treatment meted out to him ever since he was made to make way for Arun Jaitley in Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

His wife, Navjot Kaur, who is Chief Parliamentary Secretary in Punjab where BJP shares power with Akali Dal, had created a flutter on April 1 (April Fool's day) announcing her resignation from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

“The burden is over,” she had written on her Facebook post on April 1, but after a meeting with top BJP leaders in Delhi, she said, “All is well” and she is very much a part of BJP in Punjab.

Both Sidhu and his wife share an uneasy relationship with the Akali leadership.

With speculation rife over the issue, the AAP said in Chandigarh that it would welcome Sidhu with open arms if he joins the party.

“If he joins our party, we will welcome him with open arms,” the AAP's Sangrur MP, Bhagwant Mann who is also party's campaign committee chairman, said.