Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday rushed to the national capital after the news of his blue-eyed Minister, Rana Gurjeet Singh, resigning from the State Cabinet broke out on Tuesday.
Capt Amarinder is scheduled to meet the Congress president Rahul Gandhi, reportedly on whose instance the resignation was sought from Rana Gurjeet considering the allegations he was facing related to sand mining auction.
Before that, Capt Amarinder would also be meeting the State party affairs secretary in-charges Asha Kumari and Harish Chaudhary, among other senior leaders.
Rana Gurjeet was reportedly made to resign from the State Cabinet on January 4 after the Enforcement Directorate issued summons to his son Rana Inder Partap Singh on the same day to present himself on January 17 in a case relating to his company, Rana Sugars limited.
He was accused of raising funds amounting to 18 million dollars (over `100 crore) abroad by floating global depository receipts for a family-owned company allegedly without the mandatory approval of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
It was then that Rahul Gandhi asserted himself on Capt Amarinder who has been defending his Cabinet colleague from the very day his name surfaced in the sand mining auction scam.
Sources have informed The Pioneer that other than Rana Gurjeet’s resignation, Capt Amarinder would also be discussing the Cabinet expansion with the Gandhi scion.On the other hand, Rana Gurjeet has claimed that he has himself offered to resign, and sent a written resignation to the Chief Minister over a week back.
Confirming that his Power and Irrigation Minister Rana Gurjeet has submitted his resignation to him on January 4, Capt Amarinder said that the final decision would be taken after discussing it with the party high command.
The Chief Minister made it clear that Rana Gurjeet is still the Minister as he was yet to accept his resignation.