Unlike the rebel Congress leader and former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, who could not get support from most of the MLAs in his parliamentary constituency, Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring has managed to keep his flock together in Ludhiana.
While Channi represents the Jalandhar parliamentary constituency, Warring represents Ludhiana. During Channi’s show of strength in Morinda a few days ago, four of the five sitting Congress legislators from Jalandhar abstained. Only Shahkot MLA Hardev Singh Laddi attended the meeting.
“That is more due to Laddi’s close proximity with Rana Gurjeet Singh, a former minister and a prominent dissenting leader. Other MLAs, including Pargat Singh, Bawa Henry, Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary and Sukhwinder Singh Kotli, did not attend the meeting hosted by Channi,” said one of the Congress leaders in Ludhiana.
In the Ludhiana parliamentary constituency, the Congress does not have sitting MLAs from any of the Assembly segments. However, most of those who contested the elections from these Assembly segments and are described as “contesting candidates/constituency in-charge”, have rallied behind Warring.
Except Bharat Bhushan Ashu, a former MLA from Ludhiana West, others are supporting Warring. They include Kuldeep Singh Vaid, Surinder Dawer, Sanjay Talwar, Pawan Dewan and Capt Sandeep Sandhu. While Talwar is the District Congress Committee president, Sandhu is the general secretary in-charge of the PCC.
“Warring has also the support of two former MLAs, Simarjit Singh Bains and Balwinder Singh Bains, both of whom joined the Congress ahead of parliamentary elections in 2024,” said the local Congress leader.
Ashu and Warring along with Ravneet Singh Bittu, till he was in the Congress, were considered to be the “Congress triumvirate” of Ludhiana. However, after Bittu defected to the BJP and Warring opted to contest in his place from the Ludhiana parliamentary constituency, Ashu and he fell apart. They have not reconciled since then.
While Ashu mostly avoided campaigning for Warring in the 2024 General Elections, he also ensured that Warring did not campaign for him during the 2025 Ludhiana West by-election. He made it a point and conveyed it to the party high command that he does not want Warring there, despite him being the local MP and the PCC president.
However, Warring has managed to rally most of the Ludhiana leadership around himself and they continue to support him when he is faced with a tough challenge from rebels who are seeking his removal.
