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“The collapse of a man’s character stems from the compromise corner, I can never compromise on Punjab’s future and the agenda for the welfare of Punjab. Therefore, I hereby resign as the president of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. Will continue to serve the Congress,” he wrote in the letter.
— Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) September 28, 2021
Sidhu’s resignation as the PCC chief comes days after Captain Amarinder Singh, with whom he was involved in a prestige battle for months, stepped down as the chief minister of Punjab. Singh was later succeeded by Charanjit Singh Channi, a Dalit face on whose name the party zeroed in keeping the political equations in mind ahead of the assembly polls in the state.
The first Cabinet expansion of the Channi-led Punjab government on Sunday saw the induction of seven new faces while the party decided to retain some old ones from the previous Amarinder Singh Cabinet. Along with Channi, two MLAs — Sukhjinder Randhawa from Dera Baba Nanak and OP Soni from Amritsar Central — also took oath as Deputy CMs.
While the reason behind the surprise move by Sidhu is still not clear, it is believed that Sidhu was upset from his loyalists not being given a larger share in the Cabinet expansion.
Ahead of the oath taking of the new ministers in the Cabinet, some Congress MLAs wrote to Sidhu, saying the “tainted” Rana Gurjit Singh should not be made minister since he faced accusations of corruption in sand mining. Gurjeet Singh, in fact, was removed from the cabinet by then chief minister Amarinder Singh over the corruption allegations.
Sidhu, however, failed to stop Singh’s elevation as minister who was today allotted the portfolios of Technical Education & Industrial Training, Employment Generation & Training, Horticulture, and Soil & Water Conservation.
Captain Amarinder Singh, after resigned as the Punjab CM, had declared that he would fight against Sidhu’s elevation to chief ministership “tooth and nail”, and was ready make nay sacrifice to save the country from such a “dangerous man”. Singh said that he would pit a strong candidate against Sidhu in the 2022 assembly elections of Punjab to thwart the latter’s bid to become the CM face of the state.
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Chenab Times staff and is published from a syndicated feed via The Financial Express.)
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