NEW DELHI: President Droupadi Murmu on Friday accepted the resignation of Union minister of state for railways and food processing industries Ravneet Singh Bittu from the Union Council of Ministers with immediate effect, under clause (2) of Article 75 of the Constitution of India.Bittu, a three-time former Congress MP from Punjab, was inducted as a minister of state in the Narendra Modi-led government in June 2024 despite losing the Lok Sabha election from Ludhiana to Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring.He had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in March 2024 ahead of the general elections after ending his long association with the Congress.Union home minister Amit Shah had projected Bittu as an important Sikh face for the BJP during the election campaign in Punjab.A grandson of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, who was assassinated in 1995, Bittu had represented Anandpur Sahib in the Lok Sabha in 2009 before winning from Ludhiana in 2014 and 2019.During his political career in the Congress, Bittu also served as the party’s leader in the Lok Sabha and as its whip in the Lower House.
