Sidhu's resignation accepted; Punjab CM holds Power portfolio

Chandigarh, July 20 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday accepted state Power Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu's resignation.

The Chief Minister forwarded the one-line resignation to Governor V.P. Singh Badnore for formal acceptance, who too accepted it, an official spokesperson told IANS.

Within hours of the resignation letter being forwarded to him by the Chief Minister, the Governor conveyed his acceptance of the same.

The Power portfolio will, for the time being, remain with the Chief Minister, said the spokesperson.

Amarinder Singh, who had been indisposed for the last two days since his arrival from Delhi, saw the resignation letter this morning and sent it to Badnore for formal acceptance.

The Chief Minister had earlier, in Delhi, said he would see the resignation letter, which was received at his Chandigarh residence in his absence, and take a decision.

The letter, however, was just a single sentence tendering Sidhu's resignation, with no explanation or elaboration, said the spokesperson.

Sidhu had reportedly sent his resignation on June 10 to Congress President Rahul Gandhi and tweeted the same more than a month later.

Thereafter, he had tweeted that he would formally send his papers to the Chief Minister, in whose Cabinet he had been allocated the Power Ministry as part of a reshuffle post the Lok Sabha elections.

He finally sent his resignation to Amarinder Singh's official residence while the latter was in Delhi.

At this, Amarinder Singh had said that if Sidhu did not want to do his job, there was nothing that he could do about it.

The minister should have accepted his new portfolio instead of shunning work in the middle of the crucial paddy season, said the Chief Minister, reiterating that Sidhu was given a job, which he should have accepted and done.

On June 6, Sidhu had been divested of the charge of Local Government and Tourism and Cultural Affairs portfolios and given Power and New and Renewable Energy Sources in a cabinet reshuffle, the first after the Lok Sabha election results.

Barring four, there were changes in the portfolios of all the ministers as a result of the reallocation, which Amarinder Singh said would help further streamline the governing system and bring more transparency and efficacy to various departments.

However, Sidhu, who had been at loggerheads with the Chief Minister ever since his wife Navjot Kaur was denied a ticket for the Lok Sabha polls, refused to take charge of his new portfolios.