With less than six months away from the Assembly elections in Punjab, factionalism in the Congress State unit resurfaced on Saturday as party workers raised slogans in support of former Chief Minister and sitting MP from Jalandhar, Charanjit Singh Channi, when Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring was addressing a party programme in Patiala.
Also, four senior Congress leaders from Patiala skipped the event. Punjab Congress in-charge Bhupesh Baghel was present at the venue, who said that the Chief Minister and other ministers will be chosen by the Congress high command.
As Warring climbed up the stage, a group of workers started raising slogans 'Channi Liyao, Punjab Bachao' and 'Channi Liyao, Congress Bachao', 'Charanjit Singh Channi Zindabad' and 'Channi Teri Soch Te Pehra Deyange Thok Ke'.
The sloganeering briefly disrupted the event, and Warring stopped his speech and questioned the party workers. He repeatedly appealed to the workers to maintain discipline and allow the meeting to continue.
The hall soon echoed with pro-Channi slogans. Several senior leaders from Patiala, including sitting MP Dr Dharamvira Gandhi, also skipped the official party event.
Senior leaders, including Baghel, were seen observing the developments, while other leaders tried to pacify the workers. Warring warned that strict disciplinary action would be taken against anyone responsible for disrupting an official party programme and damaging the party’s image. However, the warning had little effect.
"The Congress leadership should hear the workers. You cannot ignore the workers and back leaders. Workers make the party, not leaders,” said a former MLA who skipped the event.
Several other senior leaders, including Fatehgarh Sahib MP Amar Singh and former cabinet minister Brahm Mohindra, were present at the party's 'Har Booth, Congress Mazboot' programme.
While addressing the function, Baghel said that the Chief Minister and other ministers will be chosen by the Congress high command, including the president Mallikarjun Kharge and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.
He said the duty of the Congress leaders and workers is to ensure the victory of the party as Punjab needs to be saved from the misrule of the Aam Aadmi Party government.
He exhorted the party workers to unite and fight the corrupt and incompetent AAP and the fascist BJP. He said the elections might be preponed.
Emphasising the importance of micromanagement at the booth level, he said, once the party is strong at the booth level, nobody can defeat it. He said that for the first time it is going to be a five-cornered contest in Punjab between the Congress, the AAP, the BJP and multiple factions of the Akalis.
Baghel cautioned the Congress workers against the rumour-mongering by the BJP and the AAP. He said it was the duty of every Congressman to counter their fake and false propaganda.
He added that Congress workers must list the party’s achievements and the failures of the BJP at the Centre and the AAP in the State.
Making a fervent call for unity in the party, he said there can be differences within a party, like within a family, but the actual fight is against the BJP, the AAP and the Akalis.
While Warring expressed his profound wish to see the Congress Chief Minister and ministers taking the oath, with him watching from the audience.
He reiterated and reaffirmed his profound gratitude to the party.
He said he had no hesitation in saying that all the senior leaders of the party, including Partap Singh Bajwa, Charanjit Singh Channi, Rajinder Kumar Bhattal, Brahm Mohindra and others, were far better and far more competent than him.
Warring assured the workers that all the senior leaders will be seen on a single platform. The development comes as Channi has been staying away from the organisational campaign being led by Baghel and Warring.
Channi and MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa have reportedly skipped several events linked to the campaign.
A day earlier, Channi was also absent from a Congress function in Fatehgarh Sahib, where Warring and leaders from his camp were present. Baghel had dismissed any factionalism in the party's state unit, claiming that the media and a few individuals were creating a perception of infighting.
A group of workers from Samana said the Congress currently enjoys favourable public support in Punjab but cautioned that ignoring the wishes of party workers while taking organisational decisions could prove costly.
Sanjeev Kumar, a party worker from Nabha, said the Congress should avoid further "experiments" in Punjab, claiming that similar decisions in the past had adversely affected the party's electoral prospects.
Another party worker, Dayal Singh from Rajpura, said the high command should assess the mood of the Congress workers and either project Channi as the CM face or entrust the State unit's leadership to an experienced leader.
Baghel is currently on a tour of the poll-bound State, where he will visit several assembly constituencies and hold meetings with the party's district and block-level leaders.
