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High command’s unity efforts fail to heal Punjab Congress rift
Day after Channi’s camp took over the Rakhar Punia event, Warring plays down factional divide, says not every leader needs to attend every event
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The Congress high command’s efforts to bring the rival camps in Punjab together have made little headway, with the Channi camp taking charge of the Rakhar Punia conference at Baba Bakala on Friday while state Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and his supporters stayed away, once again laying bare the deep divisions in the party.
The latest show of differences comes ahead of senior party leader Rahul Gandhi’s proposed visit to the state next month to strengthen Congress’ organisational and political outreach ahead of the 2027 assembly polls.
The Friday conference was the second major political programme in less than a fortnight where the faction opposed to Warring mounted a show without the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president. It followed the Issru rally on August 15, where too leaders opposed to Warring held a programme without the state party president.
On August 26, when Warring led a protest against rising sugar prices in Chandigarh, Channi skipped the programme. Since the Congress high command retained Warring as state unit head on July 1 while giving former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi the campaign committee’s reins, several senior leaders associated with the latter have stayed away from events organised under Warring’s leadership.
The latest episode on Rakhar Punia indicates that the high command’s attempt to balance the competing camps has failed to quell the seething leadership dispute.
More significantly, the Baba Bakala platform was used by leaders of the Channi camp to once again seek a decision from the high command on the party’s leadership in Punjab. Several speakers projected Channi and urged the central leadership to take a decision in their favour, while Gurdaspur MP and senior leader Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa questioned the absence of some leaders and referred to “compromised” leaders in an apparent reference to those not participating in the programme.
Randhawa said Rakhar Punia was traditionally one of the biggest political gatherings for each party ahead of elections and questioned why some “compromised” leaders were opposed to unity. He also questioned the PPCC president’s absence from the rally, saying every party worker wanted to see a united leadership.
Will ask Randhawa about compromised leaders: Warring
Warring, however, played down the significance of his absence from the Baba Bakala conference. Asked about not attending the programme, he said it was not necessary for all senior leaders to be present at every event and pointed out that several other senior leaders had also stayed away.
On Randhawa’s references to “compromised leaders” and “sleeper cells”, Warring said he would meet the Gurdaspur MP and ask him whom he was referring to, including whether he meant “leaders who were meeting Union home minister Amit Shah and Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann”.
Warring agreed that “sleeper cells” existed in all political parties and said they needed to be identified and exposed as they could cause more damage to a party than political opponents.
“(Ravneet Singh) Bittu used to meet Union home minister Amit Shah and later, he left (the Congress and joined the BJP),” he said.
Pertinently, Randhawa had met Amit Shah in recent days to demand a probe into the alleged nexus between gangsters and the police in his home town Dera Baba Nanak.
The renewed differences come at a time when Rahul Gandhi is expected to visit Punjab in September, giving the high command a fresh opportunity to try and settle the leadership dispute.
“I do hope that with the visit of Rahul Gandhi, every issue will be resolved,” said a senior leader who is not part of either group and supports the high command’s decision.
