Days After Ministry Snub, Sidhu Meets Rahul Gandhi to Brief Him on 'Situation' in Punjab

Chandigarh: Punjab minister and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Monday met party president Rahul Gandhi in Delhi and apprised him of the "situation" in the state, days after Chief Minister Amarinder Singh divested him of the crucial local government department.

"Met the Congress President, handed him my letter, appraised him of the situation!” Sidhu tweeted.

The cricketer-turned-politician also posted a picture in which he is seen along with Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and senior leader Ahmed Patel.

Sidhu had made attempts to meet Rahul Gandhi last week after he was divested of the local government and tourism and cultural affairs departments in a cabinet rejig. He was given the power and new and renewable energy sources portfolios.

The developments came after Sidhu, who moved from the BJP to the Congress just before 2017 assembly polls, had skipped a cabinet meeting and instead chose to address the media at his official residence on Thursday.

Tension between Singh and Sidhu had come out in the open last month when the chief minister had blamed the cricketer-turned-politician's inept handling of the local government department for the poor performance of the Congress in the urban areas in the Lok Sabha polls.

The chief minister had also said the urban votebank had been the backbone of the Congress in Punjab but Sidhu's failure to do any development work had impacted the party.

After the ministry snub, Sidhu was left out of eight consultative groups formed by the chief minister on Saturday to expedite implementation of the state government's schemes.

Sidhu, however, on Thursday, had said his department had been singled out publicly while asserting that he could not be taken for granted as he had been a performer throughout.