Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu's controversial visit to Pakistan five months ago appears to have paid him rich political dividends back home, with the former cricketer's popularity taking a leap in Punjab over the proposed Kartarpur corridor, India Today's Political Stock Exchange (PSE) showed.

In August, opponents pounced on the Congress leader for hugging Pakistan army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa during Imran Khan's swearing-in as the country's new prime minister.

He wasn't spared by Punjab CM Amarinder Singh either, who disapproved of his act. Sidhu, however, defended the embrace, saying it came in response to Gen. Bajwa's proposal to build a pilgrim corridor linking Katarpur Sahib in Pakistan with Dera Baba Nanak at Gurdaspur in Punjab, India.