Navjot Singh Sidhu Resigns As Punjab Minister

New Delhi: Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu has resigned as minister from the Punjab cabinet. The Congress leader posted his resignation letter dated June 10, addressed to Rahul Gandhi, on his official Twitter account on Sunday morning.

Almost 30 minutes after the first tweet, Sidhu posted, ” Will be sending my resignation to the chief minister, Punjab.”

It is unclear as to why the resignation was not sent to the chief minister in the last one month.

However shortly afterwards, the Punjab chief minister’s office confirmed that it has not received Sidhu’s resignation letter.

Last month, Sidhu was stripped of the portfolios of local government and tourism and culture by the chief minister and assigned the portfolio of new and renewable energy. Soon after the reshuffle, he had gone incommunicado.

“We swim and we sink together… It is a collective responsibility. My department has been singled out publicly. One must have the ability to see things from the right perspective. I cannot be taken for granted. I have been a performer throughout. I am answerable to the people of Punjab,” he said following the reshuffle.

An ‘adamant’ Sidhu has not assumed the new charge since June 6 when he was divested of charge of local government and tourism and cultural affairs portfolios in a cabinet reshuffle, the first after the Lok Sabha election results.

Earlier this week, chief minister Amarinder Singh had held a meeting to review the power situation in the state in Sidhu’s absence.

Singh and Sidhu have been at loggerheads since his controversial visit to Pakistan for the swearing-in ceremony of Imran Khan where he had hugged the Army Chief leading to a huge controversy back home.

The rift was further widened during the general elections when Sidhu and his wife accused Amarinder of having had a hand in the denial of ticket to her to from either Chandigarh or Amritsar. (ToI)