Sidhu had yesterday, in what was seen as an indirect dig at Channi, flayed ‘politicians’ who announced freebies ahead of the polls.
In what is being seen as another round of confrontation between Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and PCC Chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, the former has reportedly turned down resignation offered by Advocate General APS Deol.
On Monday, though his office had confirmed that he had tendered his resignation, Deol chose to stay incommunicado. In the evening, however, he denied reports of his resignation and told the media that “Nothing of that sort has happened.”
Sources, however, said that Deol was upset by statements by senior Congress leaders, including Sidhu, over his continuation as the Advocate General had indeed tendered his resignation, which was rejected by the chief minister.
Though the government and the chief minister were tight-lipped over the resignation controversy, sources said that Channi was upset at PCC Chief continuing to publicly attack him.
Sidhu had yesterday, in what was seen as an indirect dig at Channi, flayed ‘politicians’ who announced freebies ahead of the polls. Channi has been of late announcing several sops putting strain on the state exchequer.
Deol was appointed following Atul Nanda’s resignation who stepped down after Capt Amarinder Singh resigned as Chief Minister. Deol’s appointment had generated a controversy since the beginning as he was, at one point of time, the counsel for former Director General of Police (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini and Inspector General (IG) Paramraj Singh Umranangal, both accused in the Behbal Kalan police firing case — an emotive issue in the state.
In a bid to settle the appointment storm, senior advocate RS Bains was appointed special public prosecutor for the politically sensitive sacrilege matters. The Punjab government subsequently told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that “only regular public prosecutor will appear before the trial court till the next date of hearing”.
