Punjab CM Amarinder Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu in Amritsar. (Express photo: Rana Simranjit Singh)A few hours after Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu tweeted his resignation, his Cabinet colleagues Brahm Mohindra and Charanjit Singh Channi called it a “drama” and “urged him to show more dignity and decorum in his actions.”
In a statement, the ministers “ridiculed” Sidhu for his “ tweet on his resignation sent to Congress President Rahul Gandhi last month, and his subsequent remark that he would send his formal papers to the Punjab Chief Minister.”
“This is nothing but drama from the `king of theatrics’. If he had to resign he should have followed protocol and sent it directly to the Chief Minister,” said the ministers in the statement issued by Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. The statement came from the duo who had gone to meet senior party leader Ahmed Patel, with a dossier on Sidhu a few days ago.
They quipped, “Is Sidhu so dumb that he did not know that the cabinet minister post was not a party post, and his resignation could not be accepted by the Congress president?”
Read | Sidhu resigns from Punjab Cabinet, gets invite from AAP to join party
Pointing out that he had sent the “so-called resignation” to the Congress president on 10th June, as per his tweet, the ministers asked why it took Sidhu 34 days to announce it on Twitter. “In any case, since when had Twitter become the platform for appointments/resignations,” they added.
The ministers noted that Sidhu had kept the working of the power department in a limbo for almost 40 days by not taking over the new portfolio allocated to him by the Chief Minister. He did not even take cognisance of the fact that it was
such a crucial time for the power sector, with power being vital for paddy sowing. Clearly, Navjot Sidhu did not care about the detrimental effect of his actions, they added.
The ministers advised Sidhu to take any further action keeping their repercussions in view, not just for himself but the state and its people, as well as the party which had given him so much.
