Lagatar24 Desk
Chandigarh, Nov.5: Navjot Singh Sidhu announced on Friday that he has rescinded his resignation as president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, which he unexpectedly quit over a month ago.
Sidhu asserted emphatically during a news conference that he will take over as Punjab’s Advocate General the day a new one is appointed (AG). “Posts don’t matter when you’re on the path of truth,” he added.
Sidhu took over as president of the PPCC on July 19, but resigned shortly after portfolios were assigned to ministers in the new government led by Charanjit Singh Channi, who succeeded Amarinder Singh as Chief Minister.
In his resignation letter to AICC chief Sonia Gandhi, Sidhu had written: “The collapse of man’s character stems from the compromise corner. I can never compromise on Punjab’s future and the agenda for welfare of Punjab. Therefore, I hereby resign as president of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. Will continue to serve the Congress.”
The appointment of senior advocate APS Deol as the Congress government’s advocate general was one of the grounds for Sidhu’s departure. Because Deol was the lawyer for former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini, the police chief during the sacrilege incidents and police gunfire on protestors, the government came under scrutiny from the opposition. In four instances filed by the Punjab police, Deol was successful in obtaining blanket bail.
Supporters of Sidhu believe he was irritated by the move because it appeared to contradict the government’s promise to punish those responsible for the police shooting of protestors at Behbal Kalan, in which two people were killed.
Sidhu told reporters on Friday that the Attorney General and the Director General of Police are two key officers in bringing the issues of Bargari sacrilege and narcotics to a logical end, and that their dismissal is a demand of the party. He also questioned the Punjab government’s intentions in delivering justice in the sacrilege and narcotics cases.
With concerns about the state’s governance, Sidhu stated that Punjab had just two options: “either we make tall promises and form the government, or we work on an agenda to restore Punjab to its pure grandeur.”
Sidhu claimed that he had raised the subject of changing the DG and AG with CM Channi, and that he had been promised of it, but that nothing had transpired in the last 50 days.
Following Sidhu’s meeting with Rahul Gandhi in Delhi last month, Harish Rawat, the party’s general secretary in-charge, announced that Sidhu had retracted his resignation as Punjab Congress leader because he had been “assured” that any issues he had would be addressed.
“Whatever issues I had, I discussed them with Rahul ji,” Sidhu told reporters after the meeting. All the concerns have been sorted.”
