Chandigarh, March 16 (IANS) Days after facing humiliating defeat in Punjab from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Wednesday resigned from the post.
In a one-line resignation to party President Sonia Gandhi, Sidhu wrote, "I hereby resign as President (PPCC)."
The AAP came to power by sweeping the Assembly polls with a three-fourths majority as heavyweights fall by wayside.
A day earlier, Sonia Gandhi asked party chiefs Sidhu in Punjab, Ganesh Godiyal in Uttarakhand, Ajay Kumar Lallu in Uttar Pradesh, Girish Chodankar in Goa and Nameirakpam Loken Singh in Manipur to resign.
Sidhu, once a Chief Minister aspirant, faced defeat from his stronghold Amritsar (East) seat.
He was locked in a high-profile contest with Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia but faced defeat from the hands of AAP greenhorn candidate Jeevanjyot Kaur, who defeated him by a margin of 6,750 votes.
Low-profile hygiene activist Kaur, who believed in door-to-door connect with electorate, emerged as the 'giant slayer' by showing the door to two political heavyweights -- Sidhu and Majithia, who were busy in mudslinging against each other.
In 2017, cricketer-turned-politician Sidhu not only defeated his BJP rival Rajesh Honey with a big margin of over 42,000 votes but also played a role of a game-changer for the party by winning 10 out of 11 seats in Amritsar district, once the citadel of the SAD-BJP combine.
Sidhu is a three-time Amritsar MP from the BJP. In 2014 he "sacrificed" this seat for his 'guru' Arun Jaitley. Later he was adjusted in the Rajya Sabha by the BJP but not finding a bigger role in Punjab, he quit the party and resigned from Parliament.
The centuries-old Ravidas temple in Tughlakabad was demolished by the DDA on August 10 in 2019 following a Supreme Court order. Since then, a series of protests have been organised by Dalit organisations.
Veteran social worker Sindhutai Sapkal - known as the 'Mother to thousands of orphans' - passed away following a cardiac arrest, a family friend said. She was 73, and breathed her last at Galaxy Hospital where she was under treatment for almost a month.
A man was beaten to death for allegedly disrespecting 'Nishan Sahib' (the Sikh religious flag) at a gurdwara in village Nizampur in Kapurthala district on Sunday. Residents of the village claimed that the man disrespected the Nishan Sahib and tried to run away from the spot.
Talking to the media here after paying obeisance at Sri Darbar Sahib, Channi, who accompanied by Deputy CM Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, described it as the most heinous act, which has not only hurt religious sentiments but also tormented all, and should be condemned with the harshest possible words by one and all.
"When the officials examined a consignment declared as plastic hot fix with a value of Rs 5,000, they got suspicious. The said consignment was then opened. On examination, a packet containing pouches of cut and polished diamonds was found inside it. These diamonds were concealed very ingeniously in the packets of 'plastic hot fix'," said an official.
Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) chief Amarinder Singh on Friday announced his party's alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the 2022 Assembly polls in Punjab.
