Punjab Congress MLA Arvind Khanna resigns from Assembly, party

Arvind, however, never followed up on his resignation and announced that he was asked by Capt Amarinder not to quit. He also said he owed a lot to the Capt and could not refute his directions.

But less than a year later, Khanna has resigned — reducing the number of Congress legislators to 43.

Interestingly, Arvind’s resignation — who is also believed to be close to Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal — has led to a speculation that the SAD is in a better position to pressurise the BJP. The number of MLAs now stands at 116, of which SAD has 58 — half of the number required to win a no-confidence motion.

Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal told The Indian Express that he has received three letters of resignation from Arvind, followed by a phone call. “His personal appearance is not required since he has called me. I will go to my office tomorrow and check from my sources if Arvind actually wants to resign. If I am convinced, I will accept it. But I cannot say anything today,” he said.

Arvind, meanwhile, remained unavailable for comments. An email sent to the media, however, said, “I have decided to go ahead with my resignation from the Punjab Vidhan Sabha and active politics to devote time to family and business. I had decided to resign earlier in April 2014, but had not gone ahead that time for some personal reasons. I have already conveyed about this decision to the party and the leaders”. Sent from an unidentified address, the email said it should be read as signed by Arvind.

If his resignation is accepted, the Dhuri Assembly segment will go to by-elections. It is not clear yet whether Arvind wants to join anyother party. Earlier speculation was rife that he wanted to join SAD, but that did not happen.