Navjot Singh Sidhu withdraws resignation as Punjab Congress chief
However, he said that he will return to his office only when the state gets a new advocate general.
Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday said he has withdrawn his resignation as the chief of the Punjab unit and categorically stated that he will return to his office only when the state gets a new advocate general, PTI reported.
Sidhu had resigned as the Punjab Congress chief on September 28, just two months after being appointed to the post.
At a press conference on Friday, Sidhu said the matter of appointing a new advocate general was “not a question of ego”.
The Congress leader has been opposing the appointment of APS Deol as the state’s advocate general as he had represented former Punjab police chief Sumedh Saini, one of the accused in the case related to the desecration of Sikh holy book Guru Granth Sahib and police firing on protestors.
Deol was responsible for ensuring that Saini got bail in four cases registered by the Punjab Police.
Sidhu has also been against the appointment of Indian Police Service officer Iqbal Preet Sahota as the director general of police. Sahota was the head of the special investigation team looking into the 2015 sacrilege case.
Sahota had allegedly conducted a shoddy investigation in the matter.
Both the appointments were made after Charanjit Singh Channi became the chief minister. Sidhu quit as the party’s state unit chief as he was reportedly upset about the changes.
Addressing reporters on Friday, Sidhu said the positions of advocate general and director general of police are important to ensure justice in the sacrilege case and to solve the drugs menace.
“I have been reminding the new chief minister about these issues,” he added, according to NDTV. “Who was the torchbearer in exposing the drugs and sacrilege issue? It was our president Rahul Gandhi. We must resolve these issues.”
He also asked why the Congress leadership had not released the Special Task Force report on drugs to the public, News18 reported. “If the government is scared of making the STF reports on drugs public, then give it to me, I will do it,” he declared.
The cricketer-turned-politician’s comments about the Congress and Channi has caused unease among other sections of the state unit, according to reports.