Navjot Singh Sidhu Resignation: Two months after being made Punjab unit chief, Sidhu resigned (File)
Navjot Singh Sidhu's resignation as Punjab Congress Chief has plunged the party into a deep crisis just four months before polls. Mr Sidhu was angry about new Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi's cabinet decisions and found himself overruled.
Five reasons behind Navjot Sidhu's resignation:
- Mr Sidhu was upset about the key home ministry being assigned to Deputy Chief Minister SS Randhawa, his rival. He had earlier strongly opposed any talk of elevating Mr Randhawa as Chief Minister following Amarinder Singh's resignation.
- OP Soni's appointment as the second Deputy Chief Minister to Charanjit Singh Channi was also believed to be a sore point.
- The cricketer-turned-politician was reportedly also dismayed that Rana Gurjit Singh was brought back into the cabinet. Mr Singh quit the Amarinder Singh cabinet in 2018 amid allegations of involvement in a sand mining scam. He was later cleared by an inquiry panel.
- The appointment of APS Deol as Advocate General reportedly had Mr Sidhu fuming. Mr Deol was counsel for a former police chief accused in a case related to the 2015 sacrilege cases, or the desecration of the Sikh religious text Guru Granth Sahib, and police firing on protesters.
- Mr Sidhu was also not on board with the Chief Minister's move to appoint Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota as Punjab police chief. He was said to be keen on S Chattopadhyaya for the post but Mr Channi had his way. Mr Sahota was the head of a Special Investigation Team formed in 2015 by the then Akali government to probe the sacrilege incidents.
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