A close aide of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has reportedly offered to resign for his tweet allegedly aimed at criticising the central Congress leadership on the Punjab crisis, which saw Captain Amarinder Singh stepping down from his as the chief minister on Saturday. Lokesh Sharma, an OSD to Ashok Gehlot, had tweeted allegedly taking a veiled dig at the senior Congress leadership for the crisis in Punjab.
Sharma had tweeted in Hindi, “Mazboot ko majboor, maamooli ko maghroor kiya jaaye…Baad hi khet ko kha jaaye, us fasal ko kaun bachaye. (They make strong the helpless and mediocre the arrogant. When the fence ends up eating the field, who can save that crop?)”
मजबूत को मजबूर, मामूली को मग़रूर किया जाए…
बाड़ ही खेत को खाए, उस फसल को कौन बचाए !!— Lokesh Sharma (@_lokeshsharma) September 18, 2021
A report by news agency PTI said that
In the resignation letter, the OSD said Sharma had apologised for his tweet and offered to resign. In his resignation letter, according to PTI, Sharma wrote that he had been active on Twitter since 2010 and never tweeted beyond party lines. He sought an apology if his tweet hurt the party high command and the state government in anyway.
Amarinder Singh on Saturday resigned from his post as the Punjab chief minister on Saturday amidst growing rebellion against him within the party. The Congress is expected to announce his successor later today. There are also reports that the central leadership of the Congres may announce two deputies along with the name of the new chief minister.
The crisis in Punjab assumes significance for the Congress as the state goes to polls in February next year. In 2017 assembly polls, the party had registered a resounding victory by ousting the then Akali-BJP government headed by Prakash Singh Badal.
According to analysts, Amarinder Singh had to pay the price for often defying the central leadership and supporting the line taken by the BJP on contentious national issues.