The ongoing rift in the Punjab Congress widened on Monday as several senior leaders, including Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Pargat Singh and Sangat Singh Gilzian, closed ranks at a meeting in Mohali to oppose the continuation of Amrinder Singh Raja Warring as the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief.
Seen as yet another move to strengthen their position against Warring, the “secret” meeting took place hours before AICC general secretary in-charge of Punjab Bhupesh Baghel landed in Chandigarh to defuse the growing factionalism over the PPCC reshuffle. This was the second meeting of the anti-Warring camp, the first having been held at Channi’s residence in Morinda on Friday amid attempts by the party high command to contain the crisis.
Complicating matters further, former MLA Madan Lal Jalalpur, who has been openly siding with Channi, was issued a notice for anti-party activities by senior Congress leader and chairman of the PPCC’s disciplinary committee, Avtar Henry.
Baghel said he was on a five-day visit to chair meetings of various election-related committees. “I will be meeting members of the committees, district Congress presidents and Youth Congress leaders,” he said. He avoided questions on the growing factionalism, saying he had just arrived in Chandigarh.
Earlier in the day, the disgruntled leaders at the Mohali meeting unanimously decided to abstain from events organised by Warring and skip Baghel’s meetings as a mark of protest. “Everyone decided that they would continue to fight against Warring while remaining in the party. No one is leaving the Congress. More such meetings will be held in the coming days to bring the remaining leaders on board,” a senior leader said on condition of anonymity.
Officially, the leaders remained tight-lipped, saying only that Monday’s meeting was a continuation of the Morinda meeting. Soon afterwards, the Punjab Congress shared photographs of the gathering on its social media handles, describing it as a meeting of heads of various election committees to discuss strengthening the organisation.
In response, Warring also shared photographs of the same meeting on his social media accounts. However, he was conspicuously absent from the group photograph, further fuelling speculation over the growing dissent within the state unit.
Warring described it as a meeting to discuss the party’s strategy for the Punjab Assembly elections, asserting that it was “not a meeting of any camp”. His statement appeared to be an attempt to reinforce the message that all was well within the Punjab Congress and dispel speculation about factionalism.
Warring said, “Channi has only shared his photograph and mentioned that the meeting was a continuation of the earlier meeting held in Morinda. That meeting was not against anyone. As our senior leader Channi has been appointed chairman of the campaign committee, many leaders went there to welcome and meet him. Those who could not attend may do so in the coming days. Please do not exaggerate the Morinda meeting. It was held to strengthen the Congress and today’s meeting is also for the same purpose. Within the next couple of days, you will see all Congress leaders together on one platform.”
