The tussle in Punjab Congress seems far from over. In yet another veiled attack on his own government, Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu said he will assume charge when the new Attorney General will be appointed. “It (resignation) was not a matter of personal ego but the interest of every Punjab”, he added.
He said he has taken back his resignation from the post. "I will continue to serve as state chief," said Sidhu, who had announced he was stepping down on September 28.
His announcement comes days after Advocate General A.P.S. Deol resigned from his position and the Punjab government has sent a list of 10 names to the Union Public Service Commission for appointment of the Director General of Police.
Sidhu said: "Posts do not matter when you are on the path of truth".
Talking to the media persons, Sidhu said that he has been meeting CM Channi for a long time. “I've been speaking to him since last one month. The first meeting was in Punjab Bhawan, at that time the thing was that panel (on DGP) will come & in one week things will be settled. It's a 90 days govt, 50 days have gone”, he added.
He further said that there’s nothing personal between him and Channi. “I speak to him for the state. I speak to him for all the good that can be done for the state. I have no differences with him, not at all. Whatever I do is for Punjab. I stand for Punjab. Punjab is my soul. That's the goal”, Sidhu said.
Appointed the state chief on July 19, Sidhu resigned minutes after allocation of portfolios to ministers in the new government headed by Charanjit Channi who succeeded Amarinder Singh as the Chief Minister.
In his resignation letter to party chief Sonia Gandhi, Sidhu wrote: "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."
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One of the reasons behind Sidhu's resignation was the Congress government was appointing Deol as its Advocate General. This led to the government coming under fire from the Opposition, as Deol was till recently counsel for former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini, the police chief during the incidents of sacrilege and police firing on protesters.
Sidhu told the media that the Advocate General and the DGP were two important officers to take the issues of Bargari sacrilege and drugs to a logical conclusion.