CHANDIGARH: The All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in-charge of Punjab, Bhupesh Baghel, has convened a meeting of state party leaders in Delhi on Tuesday to chalk out a strategy for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections.
Sources said the meeting comes amid tensions within the Punjab Congress over the recent organisational reshuffle, in which Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring was retained as party chief, much to the disappointment of leaders aligned with former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi.
All members of the newly constituted election committees have been invited to attend Tuesday's meeting. Congress MPs from Punjab, including Channi, Warring, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Amar Singh, Gurjit Singh Aujla and Dharamvira Gandhi, are already in Delhi to attend the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which began on Monday.
Sources familiar with the developments said several programmes, including rallies in the Doaba, Majha and Malwa regions, along with the proposed "Congress Unity Bus Yatra", have been planned. Replicating the Karnataka model, the yatra aims to project party unity. Senior leaders are expected to travel across the state in a specially designed bus, covering as many Assembly constituencies as possible. The detailed programme will be finalised after consultations with all stakeholders.
"If everything goes well, senior party leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi could either flag off or join the yatra," said a senior party leader on condition of anonymity.
According to sources, the party high command has directed the Punjab unit to proceed with preparations for the Assembly elections. State leaders have been instructed to maintain a united front as the party prepares to roll out its campaign.
Sources said the decision on whether to replace Warring could come within the next fortnight or after the Monsoon Session of Parliament concludes on August 21.
On the other hand, disgruntled leaders say they are in a "cooling-off period" and are awaiting Rahul Gandhi's final decision.
Sources also claimed that the Ajay Maken-led committee, comprising Meenakshi Natarajan and Bhajan Lal Jatav, which was tasked with resolving the leadership issue before Rahul Gandhi left on his foreign visit, had actually recommended a change in the state leadership. Among the names being discussed are Channi, a Scheduled Caste leader from the Doaba region, and Vijay Inder Singla, a Hindu leader from Sangrur district, the home district of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
These leaders have met AICC general secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal in Delhi to air their grievances. However, the attempted power-sharing formula appears to have collapsed. Sources said AICC general secretary in-charge for Punjab Bhupesh Baghel was unable to broker peace between the rival factions despite holding meetings with all sides during his week-long stay in Chandigarh.
Sources further claimed that an irritated party high command has pulled up Channi and Randhawa for washing the party's dirty linen in public, while continuing to maintain officially that dissent during internal meetings reflects a healthy democratic culture within the party.
Earlier this month, the Congress high command appointed Channi as chairman of the campaign committee. Vijay Inder Singla was named chairman of the election management and coordination committee, former deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa was appointed chairman of the core committee, and Fatehgarh Sahib MP Amar Singh was made head of the manifesto committee.
On Friday, during his visit to Jalandhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a swipe at the Congress over its ongoing internal feud.