CHANDIGARH: Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Monday appointed Jalandhar Cantonment legislator Pargat Singh as Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) general secretary.
A close aide of Sidhu, Singh has been a vocal critic of Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and the functioning of the state government.
In the past, he has questioned his party's government over several issues including the alleged delay in justice in cases of desecration of a religious text and the subsequent police firing in Faridkot in 2015.
"With the approval of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, AICC general secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal and Punjab Congress in-charge Harish Rawat, I hereby appoint Pargat Singh as PPCC General Secretary (Organisation) with immediate effect," Sidhu said in a statement.
Singh, a former Indian hockey captain, had joined the Congress ahead of the 2017 Punjab Assembly polls after quitting the Shiromani Akali Dal.
The announcement of Singh's appointment comes days after Sidhu appointed four advisors.
On August 11, the Punjab Congress chief appointed Lok Sabha MP Amar Singh, former IPS officer Mohammad Mustafa, social activist Pyare Lal Garg and a retired government teacher Malwinder Singh Mali as his advisors.
However, Mustafa, husband of Cabinet minister Razia Sultana, declined to accept the offer.