Navjot Sidhu resigns, Cong crisis deepens

CHANDIGARH: Seventy-two days after he was appointed as Punjab Congress chief, and eight days after the state got a new chief minister, a move in which he played no little part, Navjot Singh Sidhu resigned on Tuesday, miffed at not having his way with some senior appointments.

His resignation prompted an immediate “I told you so” from former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, who described Sidhu as “unstable”; and embarrassed Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, who together orchestrated Sidhu’s appointment and Singh’s exit as part of an effort to end factionalism and improve the party’s chances in next year’s state elections.

Only, as Sidhu’s abrupt resignation shows, the move seems to have managed to create more divisions in the party. Late on Tuesday evening, efforts were still on to get Sidhu, a former cricketer who once left an overseas tour in a huff after a spat with the team’s captain and flew back home, and resigned from Captain Singh’s cabinet in a huff in 2019, to change his mind.

“The collapse of a man’s character stems from the compromise corner, I can never compromise on Punjab’s future and the agenda for the welfare of Punjab,” Sidhu wrote in a short resignation letter to party chief Sonia Gandhi, appearing to take the party by surprise.

The move came on a busy day, politically, for the Congress. In Goa, former chief minister Luizhinio Falerio officially announced his resignation from the party and his decision to join the Trinamool Congress. In Delhi, the CPI’S

Kanhaiya Kumar joined the Congress and Gujarat lawmaker Jignesh Mevani extended support, and there was speculation through the day that Amarinder would meet senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders (which has since been denied by him). “He’s on a personal visit, during which he’ll meet some friends & also vacate Kapurthala house for the new CM,” said Raveen Thukral, Singh’s media adviser.

But everything was soon overtaken in importance by happenings in Punjab which have both made the already uncertain political situation in the state even more uncertain, and reinforced the perception that the