Anti-Baghel chants, clashes mar Congress’ poll meet in Ludhiana

Supporters of Ashu, a vocal ally of Channi, arrive wearing ‘Baghel go back’ T-shirts, RSS stooges go out, says Warring from stage

The factional feud in the Punjab Congress exploded into full-scale conflict on Thursday, after party’s key meet, for grassroots mobilisation ahead of the high-stakes upcoming assembly polls, in Ludhiana was disrupted by anti-leadership slogans and scuffles between supporters of rival groups.

AICC General Secretary and In-Charge of Punjab Congress Affairs, Bhupesh Baghel, and Punjab Pradesh Congress committee president and Ludhiana MP, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring addressing a press conference. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)

The chaos unfolded at the Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan during the party’s “Har Booth Congress Mazboot” programme where AICC general secretary and Punjab affairs in-charge Bhupesh Baghel and state Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring were present. Tensions spiked when supporters of former cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, a vocal ally of Jalandhar MP and former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, arrived wearing “Baghel Go Back” T-shirts and shouted slogans of “Ashu Zindabad”, “Channi Zindabad”.

Warring’s supporters countered the protesters with pro-leadership slogans and soon physical altercation started between the two groups inside the auditorium.

Faced with mounting disruption, Warring took the microphone to denounce the protesters, demanding their immediate exit from the venue. “RSS de chamcho bahar jao (RSS stooges go out),” Warring said from the stage. He later claimed intelligence inputs suggested “RSS sleeper cells” had infiltrated the party for personal gain.

The fireworks in Ludhiana are the latest flashpoint in the power struggle gripping the Punjab Congress following the party high command’s decision to retain Warring as state unit chief on July 1 and appoint Channi as the chairperson of campaign committee. With the rival faction backing Channi for the CM face, the open revolt in Ludhiana exposes severe organisational fractures that threaten to derail the party’s campaign momentum and unity strategy. The party kicked off the grassroots mobilisation drive from Fatehgarh Sahib on July 31. The chaos in Ludhiana follows similar factional protests across Bathinda, Patiala, Sangrur, and Barnala.

Addressing press conferences following the incident, both Baghel and Warring signalled an imminent crackdown on dissenters. Warring, who is also the MP from Ludhiana, took on his detractors and those who tried to disrupt the programme.

Without naming anyone, he said he had personally helped some of them (in an apparent reference to Ashu) “when they were hounded by the state vigilance bureau” and now they are raising slogans. Relations between Ashu and Warring have remained strained since the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, when the Congress fielded Warring from Ludhiana instead of Ashu. Warring defeat BJP candidate Ravneet Singh Bittu. In April 2025, after Ashu was declared candidate for Ludhiana West bypolls, Warring remained absent from the campaign. Later, after losing the polls to AAP’s Sanjeev Arora, Ashu resigned from the post of working president of Punjab Congress.

On his part, Baghel made it categorically clear that indiscipline had no place in the party. There will be zero tolerance towards indiscipline, he said, while adding, those who had tried to disrupt the party programmes will be identified and action will be taken against them. Nobody will be spared, he asserted.

While the Congress’ external enemies are visible and identified, those inside working as “sleeper cells” and “internal saboteurs” will need to be exposed and thrown out, he added.

He pointed out, it was not anybody’s personal programme but that of the Congress party and was being done on the instructions of the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.