A day after the Congress unveiled its new poll panels and retained Amrinder Raja Warring as the state chief and Partap Bajwa as the Leader of the Opposition, besides appointing three working presidents, Chandigarh MP and former Union minister Manish Tewari posted a cryptic message on X, fuelling buzz over his exclusion from the revamped state unit.
Tewari, the only Congress MP from the region excluded from the reshuffle, posted a series of cryptic messages on X. Reacting to the development while underlining his decades-long association with the Congress, Tewari wrote, “Que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be.”
Charanjit Singh Channi
Adding to the churn, former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, who was in the race for the post of state unit president, is said to be upset over his appointment as the chairperson of the campaign committee.
Sources said Channi had refused to accept the position and called a meeting of senior state leaders on Thursday to decide his future course of action. He has been meeting a section of leaders since Tuesday evening.
Party insiders noted that while the campaign committee role gave Channi a prominent place in the poll strategy, it was being seen by some as an attempt to accommodate his ambitions without disturbing the existing top leadership.
Further exposing factional undercurrents, several senior leaders, including Partap Singh Bajwa, Charanjit Singh Channi, Pargat Singh, Rana Gurjeet Singh and Sukhpal Khaira, have not welcomed the new election panels on their social media handles.
They also refrained from congratulating the high command even 24 hours after the announcement.
Sukhjinder Randhawa, who is perceived to have got a raw deal in the recast, merely reposted a tweet on the reshuffle by Rajasthan Congress leader Sachin Pilot.
Only a few leaders — Warring, Vijay Inder Singla, who has been appointed the head of the election management and coordination committee, and MP Amar Singh, appointed head of the manifesto committee — have welcomed the changes. As unease mounted, Warring remained incommunicado on Wednesday and was said to be spending time with his family in Shimla.
Partap Bajwa, Channi and Randhawa also did not respond to calls.
