Amidst much chaos, former cricketer turned politician, Navjot Singh Sidhu, who had announced his exit from the Amarinder Singh government on social media over the weekend, finally sent his resignation to the chief minister today. He confirmed this via a tweet that said that the resignation letter has been delivered to Capt Amarinder Singh’s official residence.
Sidhu received a lot of flak when he did not taken charge of the power ministry that was allocated to him by chief minister Amarinder Singh in a reshuffle last month. He was stripped of his portfolios of Local Bodies, Tourism and Culture.
Post the reshuffle, Sidhu had also sent his resignation letter to the then Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
Today I have sent my resignation to the Chief Minister Punjab, has been delivered at his official residence…
— Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) July 15, 2019
The letter was released by him on Sunday and is seen as the last straw in the ongoing Sidhu-Amarinder Singh tiff. A few senior Congress leaders tried to negotiate a compromise but the effort fell flat.
My letter to the Congress President Shri. Rahul Gandhi Ji, submitted on 10 June 2019. pic.twitter.com/WS3yYwmnPl
— Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) July 14, 2019
Sidhu’s ‘I quit’ message on social media over the weekend was also designed to respond to the BJP that had continuously been highlighting his absenteeism from work. They were demanding for his resignation if he did not want to take up the responsibility of the portfolio assigned to him.
His exit from the Punjab cabinet is widely linked to the ever-increasing divide with the Punjab chief minister.
The tensions between the two escalated when Sidhu went to Pakistan for the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kartarpur corridor in November last year despite Amarinder declining to accept the invitation and advising Sidhu to do the same.