Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, who made his resignation from the Punjab cabinet public on Sunday, again used social media to say his resignation letter had now gone to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. He had been criticised for tweeting a letter addressed to the Congress president rather than to the chief minister.

Criticism of Sidhu

Sidhu was attacked from several quarters after stating that he had left the cabinet on June 10. His critics accused him of trying to pressure the party’s central leadership and said the letter should have gone directly to the chief minister. Senior cabinet minister Brahm Mohindra called him the “king of theatrics”.

Amarinder Singh’s response

Confirming that the letter had arrived a day after Sidhu made it public, the chief minister criticised him for picking and choosing portfolios and refusing to work. “There should be some discipline,” he said. He said he had first been told the letter had gone to the Congress president, then that it had been delivered to his house in Chandigarh, and that he would look at it on his return.

He said Punjab had 17 ministers and that he had changed the portfolios of 13 of them on June 6, moving Sidhu from local bodies to renewable energy, which he described as critical for the state. With June to October being the paddy season and more than 30 per cent of Punjab’s area still without rain, he said, the power situation needed a minister’s attention, and if Sidhu would not do the job there was nothing he could do.

Offers from other parties

Some opposition parties have reached out to Sidhu. AAP state unit chief Harpal Singh Cheema invited him to join, while the Punjab Ekta Party led by Sukhpal Singh Khaira and Simarjit Singh Bains’s Lok Insaaf Party offered to make him their front’s chief ministerial candidate for the 2022 assembly election.

What happened next

In the 2022 Punjab assembly election, the Aam Aadmi Party won 92 seats, the Congress 18 and the Shiromani Akali Dal 3, and Bhagwant Mann became Chief Minister.

See also: Indian National Congress, Aam Aadmi Party.

Originally published on 15 July 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us