New Delhi, January 27: Former Congress leader and two-time MP from Faridkot Jagmeet Singh Brar on Saturday announced his resignation as Punjab Trinamool Congress chief.
Brar, 59, handed over his resignation to Trinamool Congress chief and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata last week.
In an exclusive conversation with The Tribune on Saturday, he said he had resigned following his failure to meet Banerjee over the past some months.
He wrote the following in his resignation letter to Banerjee, “Despite my repeated efforts to contact you, both from Delhi as well as Kolkata, I, along with my supporters, have been left completely disheartened. I’ve invested both energy and means in our common cause, but it shows that you’ve lost interest in Punjab. Therefore, I hereby resign from the presidentship of the Punjab TMC with immediate effect.”
Brar said he would consult his supporters and tour Punjab before announcing his next move.
“I have personally handed over my resignation letter as president of the Punjab Trinmool Congress to the president of the All India Trinmool Congress Mamata Banerjee at her residence in Kolkata last week. I have also thanked her for giving me an opportunity to serve as the president of the Punjab unit,” Brar said, adding that in the coming few days, he would consult his friends and well-wishers across Punjab to decide the future course of action.
Brar, a former Congress Working Committee member and AICC general secretary, had quit the Congress ahead of the state Assembly elections and had joined TMC which failed to create a splash in Punjab.
A two-term MP from Faridkot (1991-1996) and (1999-2004), Brar rose to fame when he defeated then Union Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections.
General secretary of the Punjab PCC during the peak period of terrorism with Beant Singh, the former CM, Brar openly criticised the Gandhis after the 2014 Lok Sabha debacle advising them to go on leave and hand over the party to someone else.
Brar has been a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee (CWC) for 10 years, general secretary of the AICC from 2010 to 2013 and secretary, AICC, from 1999 to 2010. He was also general secretary of the Indian Youth Congress from 1983 to 1989. He lost two Lok Sabha elections in 2004 and 2009 by a narrow margin.
Brar’s exit is bound to raise speculation around whether he was hoping to return to the Congress.
