Navjot Singh Sidhu resigns from Punjab Cabinet

Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu has resigned from the Punjab Cabinet amid ongoing tussle with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. Mr. Sidhu on July 14 released a copy of his resignation on Twitter, which he said was submitted to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on June 10, 2019. In the resignation letter addressed to Mr. Gandhi, Mr. Sidhu did not assign any reason for his quitting the Cabinet. “I hereby resign as Minister from the Punjab Cabinet,” wrote Mr. Sidhu in his letter. “Will be sending my resignation to the Chief Minister, Punjab,” he added. After the Cabinet reshuffle on June 6, the Chief Minister divested Mr. Sidhu of the Local Bodies portfolio and allocated him the Power and New and Renewable Energy Sources portfolios. However, Mr. Sidhu, instead of taking charge of the new Ministry, approached party’s Central leadership to express his displeasure and appraised the “high command’’ of being singled out “unfairly’’ in the Cabinet rejig on the pretext of party’s “poor performance” in the urban areas of the State in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Capt. Amarinder and Mr. Sidhu have been at loggerheads since the 2019 Lok Sabha poll. It started with Mr. Sidhu’s wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu accusing Capt. Amarinder of blocking her Lok Sabha ticket from Chandigarh. Later, the Chief Minister blamed Mr. Sidhu for not handling his department well, which he claimed had resulted in the Congress’s “poor performance” in urban areas in the general election. Source: The Hindu