'Acolyte of Pak deep state': Amarinder Singh quits Congress, targets Sidhu

Amarinder Singh, who formally resigned from the Congress party, attacked Navjot Singh Sidhu with whom he fought an ugly public battle before resigning as Punjab chief minister in September. In his seven-page resignation letter sent to party chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday, Singh called the cricketer-turned-politician "an acolyte of the Pakistani deep state" and "a person of unstable mind".

"Despite my profound reservations and over the unanimous advice of almost all the MPs from Punjab, you chose to appoint an acolyte of the Pakistani deep state Navjot Sidhu who had publicly hugged the Pakistan Army Chief Gen Bajwa and Prime Minister Imran Khan, as the President of the Punjab Congress Committee. Khan and Bajwa are the people responsible for sending terrorists across the border to kill Indians," Singh said in his resignation letter.

Singh posted a copy of the letter on his Twitter handle.

"Sidhu's only claim to fame was that he would abuse me and my government on a regular basis. I am old enough to be his father but that did not stop him from using the filthiest and most vile language against me both publicly and privately," he further said.

The former chief minister also took on Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi. "Unfortunately rather than being reined in, he was patronised by Rahul and Priyanka, while you chose to turn a blind eye to the shenanigans of this gentleman," said Singh in the letter.

He then talked about the most “egregious” act - calling a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting over his head at the dead of the night and that too through Twitter. Terming it a "midnight conspiracy", Singh told Sonia Gandhi it was "carried out against me at your and your children's behest".

Singh resigned as the Punjab chief minister on September 18 after a bitter tussle with Sidhu amid infighting in the state Congress. The party later picked Charanjit Singh Channi as the next chief minister of the state.

Sidhu too was elevated to the position of Punjab Congress president. After resigning hours before the CLP meeting, Singh had said he felt "humiliated".