SIDHU VACATES HIS OFFICIAL BUNGALOW IN CHANDIGARH
Monday, 22/07/2019
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CHANDIGARH: Congress leader Navjot Sing hS idhu on Sunday vacated the official bungalow allotted to him by the Punjab government in Chandigarh, a day after his resignation from the state cabinet was accepted by chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh.
Sidhu, who has been avoiding the media for more than a month now, once again dodged questions posed by reporters as he vacated the premises here.
Sidhu along with his wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu reached their private residence on the outskirts of Amritsar city on Sunday afternoon. “Have vacated the ministerial bungalow, handed it over to the Punjab government,” Sidhu said in a tweet. On Saturday, Amarinder Singh had accepted Sidhu’s “one-line” resignation and forwarded it to Punjab governor VP Singh Badnore who conveyed his acceptance of the same.
The 55-year-old cricketerturned-politician, who was at loggerheads with Amarinder, was stripped off key portfolios in the cabinet reshuffle on June 6.
The chief minister had divested Sidhu of the local government and tourism and cultural affairs departments and allotted him the power and new and renewable energy portfolio. Apart from Sidhu, the portfolios of other ministers were also changed.
His refusal to assume the charge of the power department for more than a month also came as an “embarrassment” to the Congress as opposition parties attacked the Amarinder Singhled regime over the issue.
In Sidhu’s absence, Amarinder has been monitoring the power department’s functioning due to the ongoing paddy sowing season and a rising demand for power because of the hot and humid weather in the state.
On July 14, Sidhu had posted on Twitter his June 10 resignation letter addressed to then Congress president Rahul Gandhi, which was sent just four days after his portfolio was changed.
On July 15, Sidhu sent his resignation letter to Amarinder Singh’s official residence here while the chief minister was in Delhi.
