Navjot Singh Sidhu resigns as Punjab Cabinet Minister

Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu, who was sulking after being stripped off key portfolios in the Punjab cabinet reshuffle in June, has resigned from the Amarinder Singh cabinet.

Sidhu took to Twitter on Sunday, making public his resignation letter dated June 10 addressed to Congress President Rahul Gandhi. "I hereby resign as Minister from Punjab Cabinet," Sidhu said in the letter to the Congress chief, which he posted on his Twitter handle.

In another tweet, Sidhu said he would be sending his resignation letter to the chief minister. On June 6, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had divested Sidhu of the Local Government and Tourism and Cultural Affairs Departments and allotted him the power and new and renewable energy portfolio.

In an apparent snub, Sidhu was also left out of the consultative groups formed by the chief minister on June 8, two days after the cabinet reshuffle, to accelerate the implementation of the government's flagship programmes. Over a month after he was stripped of key portfolios, Sidhu had not taken charge of his new assignment, as a stalemate with the chief minister had continued.

-PTI