As the niggles in various State units continue, the Punjab Congress seems to be heading for serious trouble with Navjot Singh Sidhu reaching out to the party top leadership complaining against Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

Sidhu, who has been at war with Amarinder Singh ever since he joined the grand old party after quitting BJP, met Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and submitted a private letter. Sidhu is yet to take over his new ministry as assigned by Amarinder days after the latter divested the former cricketer-turned-MLA of the crucial local Government department.

Sidhu took to social media to share that he met his party chief and apprised him of the “situation” in the State. “Met the Congress president, handed him my letter, appraised him of the situation,” Sidhu tweeted. 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.

Sidhu also posted a picture in which he seen along with Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and senior leader Ahmed Patel. Congress while is reeling under deep crisis following the resignation of Rahul as party chief after the Lok Sabha debacle, it is also facing resentments within in the state like Karnataka, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh putting the Congress Governments survival at risk. 

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 Amarinder 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”.