Indian cricketer-turned-politician and a close friend of Prime Minister Imran Khan, Navjot Singh Sidhu, has resigned from the Punjab Cabinet. Though he did not cite the reason for his departure, Indian media report that his rising differences with Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh was the reason behind his resignation.

Sindhu made the announcement on Twitter by sharing his resignation letter sent to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on June 10.

“I hereby resign as minister from the Punjab cabinet,” read the letter.

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He added that he will be sending his resignation to the Chief Minister, Punjab.

According to The Hindu, after the Cabinet reshuffle on June 6, Sidhu was relieved from his portfolios of Local Bodies, Tourism and Culture and allocated the Power and New and Renewable Energy Sources portfolios.

However, Sidhu, instead of taking charge of the new Ministry, approached party’s Central leadership to express his displeasure and appraised the “high command’’ of being singled out “unfairly”.

CM Amarinder and Sidhu’s differences emerged in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll. It began Sidhu’s wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu accusing Capt. Amarinder of blocking her Lok Sabha ticket from Chandigarh. Later, the Chief Minister blamed Sidhu for not handling his department well, which he claimed had resulted in the Congress’s “poor performance” in urban areas in the general election.