Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan accepts resignation of Amarinder Singh

NEW DELHI: Speaker Sumitra Mahajan today accepted the resignation of Amarinder Singh, the Deputy Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha.

"I have accepted his resignation with effect from November 23," she said. Singh had met the Speaker yesterday and tendered his resignation from the House.

Singh had announced his resignation in protest against the "injustice" meted out to the people of Punjab following the November 10 Supreme Court verdict on the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal water sharing agreement which he and most other state parties have been opposing.

The SYL agreement has become a major political issue in the poll-bound state in which Singh, a former Chief Minister, is leading his party's campaign to capture the power from the SAD-BJP alliance, which has been ruling for a decade.

He had said that he decided to quit the Lok Sabha "as a mark of protest against the deprivation of the people of my state of the much-needed Sutlej river water."

Singh was elected to Parliament defeating BJP heavyweight and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley from the prestigious Amritsar Lok Sabha seat.