Three senior leaders — Ajay Maken, Meenakshi Natarajan, and Bhajan Lal Jatav — appointed as observers by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to assess the political scenario in Punjab, will start one-to-one hearings with Punjab Congress leaders from tomorrow in Delhi.
Starting with MPs, the observers will meet sitting and former MLAs, district presidents, and other leaders over the next three days before submitting their report to the party high command.
Party insiders said that sending observers is usually done just before major organisational reshuffles, such as a change in Punjab Congress president, working presidents, or other key office-bearers. Though reports suggest the high command may not be considering a drastic change in top leadership right now, the process has clearly begun.
Equipped with issues raised by state unit leaders before Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Kharge during a meeting last month in Delhi, the observers are expected to discuss different leadership roles that could be assigned to state leaders.
Various issues raised by Punjab Congress leaders regarding the functioning of the state party unit, and matters that need to be addressed ahead of the 2027 Assembly election, are likely to be taken up with the observers.
The appointment of observers comes in the wake of strong buzz on Thursday morning that the party high command was not considering any change in the top state leadership. Punjab Affairs in-charge Bhupesh Baghel has been constantly ruling out any change of leadership.
It may be mentioned that while removing Capt. Amarinder Singh as Chief Minister in September 2021 and appointing Charanjit Channi as interim CM, the party high command had sent three observers — Ajay Maken, Harish Chaudhary, and the then Punjab Affairs in-charge and former Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat.
