Asense of Deja vu is gripping Congress circles in Delhi as the party steps up deliberations for leadership change in Punjab.
Sources in the know of things point to uncanny similarities to the processes that followed the replacement of Capt Amarinder Singh as Punjab chief minister in September 2021 and the exercise being undertaken to bring a new team now.
The All India Congress Committee which initiated the transition in Punjab and recommended Charanjit Singh Channi as Amarinder Singh’s replacement in 2021 had Ajay Maken as central observer alongside Harish Chaudhary, party in charge for the state.
Cut to 2026. The Congress has again appointed Ajay Maken, this time along with Meenakshi Natarajan, as AICC central observer to recommend changes to the top Punjab Congress leadership structure and make the state unit battle ready for 2027 assembly polls.
A section of Congress leaders are hoping the party gets its act together this time while warily recalling events of the past.
It is public knowledge in Congress circles that while Charanjit Singh Channi was made the first first Dalit CM of Punjab in September 2021, majority MLAs had actually voted for Sunil Jakhar.
“But veteran Ambika Soni was firm in her opinion that Punjab should be allowed to have a Sikh chief minister in line with the long held conventions and Sonia Gandhi agreed with her. That is how Jakhar fell out of the race,” says a Congress insider involved in th 2021 transition when Sunil Jakhar, then Punjab Congress chief Navjot Sidhu, Sukhjinder Randhawa and Charanjit Singh Channi were in the race for CM-ship.
That episode spelt the beginning of the end of abiding ties Jakhar family had with the Congress. It culminated with Sunil Jakhar joining the BJP in May 2022.
Congress sources say Ajay Maken was in charge of leadership transition deliberations in Punjab Congress at the time but post 2022 state election events proved that the entire exercise had boomeranged.
“Hopefully this time we will not see a repeat of 2022,” a senior Congress leader involved with Punjab affairs said.
Congress insiders added that the party this time has also considered the idea of installing a Hindu leader as state unit chief — a debate where former Punjab minister Vijayinder Singla fits. But BJP’s move of Kewal Dhillon’s appointment appears to have forced a calculated rethink.
AICC leaders say the party cannot ignore the fact that the BJP is actively wooing OBCs and Dalits presenting a fresh challenge to the Congress which has conventionally been the party of choice for these segments.
“Any leadership change in Punjab will have to factor in the rivals and their strategies. It will have to be a very delicate balancing act,” said an AICC source.
The involvement of Rahul Gandhi in Punjab leadership transition talks — he met senior leaders Amrinder Raja Warring, Partap Bajwa, Sukhjinder Randhawa, Charanjit Channi and Vijayinder Singla — in Delhi today — point to the importance of the state to the Congress scheme of things.
The Congress is currently in power on its own only in Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and in alliance in Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu and hopes to win Punjab to boost its electoral landscape.
But the way forward will depend on what Rahul Gandhi decides about Punjab leadership structure and what Ajay Maken tells him.
