Sidhu sends resignation letter again

New Delhi: Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, on Saturday sent a fresh resignation as MP to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee after the first was not accepted due to its faulty format.

Sidhu resigned from the Lok Sabha on Friday after the Punjab and Haryana High Court found him guilty of culpable homicide - not amounting to murder - in a 1988 road rage case. He was accused of causing the death of a resident of Patiala - Gurnam Singh - during a street scuffle.

His letter was rejected by Chatterjee "in its present form", officials in the Lok Sabha secretariat said. Sidhu had said in his letter that he was resigning on "moral grounds".

"Without resorting to technical arguments with regard to what the quantum of punishment will be and my right to challenge the judgement in appeal, I tender my resignation as member of Lok Sabha. I've always stood for truth and moral grounds and these principles are above any office or power that I hold," he had written in his letter given to the speaker Friday.

Under the rules of the House, a member has to write his resignation in a prescribed format that does not allow him to give any reason for his resignation.

Sidhu had first said he won’t write a new letter, but then changed his mind in less than two hours saying that he would send a "fresh letter in accordance with the rules".

In the new letter sent to the Speaker's office on Saturday, Sidhu did not mention the reason for his resignation.

“I resigned to clear my own conscience. Politics is not a profession for me; it is a mission. My not being an MP doesn't change my dedication towards politics,” Sidhu had told CNN-IBN.

(With inputs from IANS)

The fight began over a parking spot outside the State Bank of Patiala branch, where Sidhu was employed. Sidhu has always claimed that the incident was an accident and he had no intention of harming Gurnam.

Sidhu and Sandhu were alleged to have fled from the spot with the keys to Singh’s car.

The Patiala sessions court dismissed the case on September 22, 1999 on the ground that the case against the accused has not been established beyond doubt and there was a delay in lodging the case.

The Patiala sessions court dismissed the case on September 22, 1999 on the ground that the case against the accused has not been established beyond doubt and there was a delay in lodging the case. Sidhu has been convicted under Section 304 of IPC, which carries a maximum prison term of 10 years. Public prosecutor Vinod Ghai said he would ask for the maximum punishment.

Sidhu said he was not bothered about the quantum of punishment and other technicalities since he would be moving the Supreme Court. I am more concerned about morality and ethics, said Sidhu, who was in Parliament when the High Court order came.