The cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu’s resignation as Punjab Cabinet Minister triggered a political slugfest on Sunday with some leaders, including his Cabinet colleagues, calling it a “drama” and Sidhu a “king of theatrics”.
Soon after Sidhu tweeted a copy of his resignation letter, dated June 10, addressed to former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, reactions from not only the political parties but the common man poured in on the former cricketer’s move.
Sidhu’s Cabinet colleagues, Brahm Mohindra and Charanjit Singh Channi, ridiculed his “resignation drama” while urging him to show more dignity and decorum in his actions.
“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, quipping whether Sidhu was so dumb that he didn’t know that the Cabinet Minister post was not a party post, and his resignation could not be accepted by the Congress president.
Pointing out that he had sent the so-called resignation to the Congress president on June 10, 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 or resignations,” they asked.
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 is such a crucial time for the power sector, with power being vital for paddy sowing. Clearly, 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.
Reacting on Sidhu’s resignation, SAD president Sukhbir Badal said that the former cricketer was fond of engaging in theatrics. “There is no need to write any letter to Rahul Gandhi when a one line message to the Chief Minister would have sufficed,” he said.
“It is now clear that Sidhu submitted the ‘resignation’ letter one month back only to blackmail the party and force it to bend to his will. This itself shows that Sidhu is an opportunist who only believes in self promotion,” said Sukhbir.
Strongly reacting on Sidhu’s announcement, BJP national secretary Tarun Chugh said that it was strange that Sidhu submitted his resignation to Rahul who had already resigned as president of Congress.
“Instead of waiting for Sidhu's resignation, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh should dismiss Sidhu as he has made his intention clear not to continue in the Government as a Cabinet Minister...It’s just a drama,” he said.
The BJP leader said this move of Sidhu was highly manipulative and political. “Sidhu has today tweeted his resignation which shows that it was tendered on 10th of June, 2019 but leaves people confused.
“The question is whether it was handed over to Rahul on 10th of June or today, that is on 14th of July. Further, it is also not clear why Sidhu chose to send his resignation to Rahul and not to Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh or Governor VP Singh Badnore,” he said adding that it seemed that Sidhu actually wanted to use his resignation as a political tool to create pressure on Congress high command and Chief Minister.
Chugh urged the Governor and the Chief Minister to immediately dismiss Sidhu in the interest of justice and fairplay.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Aman Arora, appreciating Sidhu's performance as Local Bodies Minister, accused him of “running away from his responsibility and duty of uprooting neck deep institutionized mafia in his recently allotted portfolio of Power”.
Appreciating Sidhu for his clean image and straightforwardness, Arora said that it would have been a wonderful opportunity for Sidhu to expose the previous as well as the present Government’s nefarious stance by scrapping PPAs with three private thermal power plants which have been given the license to loot the State for next 25 years and was duty bound to give relief to the people of the State from exorbitant power tariffs.
Expressing surprise on Sidhu's move to send resignation from Cabinet to Congress President even as the prerogative for the same lies either with the Chief Minister or the Governor, Arora urged Sidhu to clear air on his resignation and wished him good luck for his future endeavours.
Former minister and BJP senior leader Manoranjan Kalia said that Sidhu was in the habit of “making prestigious point on smallest issue, little caring for collective responsibility and co-existence and expects from others to tolerate him”.