CHANDIGARH: With less than four months left for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections, the Congress high command is planning a campaign focused on Gen Z to tap into discontent with the BJP-led Union government and the AAP-led state government. The party sees Punjab as an important step towards reviving its fortunes nationally.
Party sources said the high command would closely monitor candidate selection and campaign strategy to improve coordination among senior leaders and contain competing ambitions within the state unit.
With Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi increasingly raising youth-related issues, the Congress plans to build its campaign around Gen Z while focusing on the drug menace, deteriorating law and order, unemployment and the state's fiscal crisis.
The party has tasked election strategist Sunil Kanugolu's team with planning the campaign. The team has already been deployed in Punjab and has begun work, a party leader said.
For the first time, the high command and the top leadership are expected to play a central role in coordinating the party's political activities and campaign strategy, unlike in previous elections. The All India Congress Committee (AICC) will design the campaign and assign roles to state leaders.
“The high command will also conduct its own surveys to shortlist and finalize candidates. This strategy is being adopted by the party high command due to the factional tensions that have persisted in the state unit, triggering the appointment of Olympian Pargat Singh as Punjab Congress president, replacing Ludhiana Member of Parliament Amarinder Singh Raja Warring who has begun political posturing against party leaders he believes were responsible for his removal from the top post, in an attempt to bring feuding leaders onto a common platform, as the party does not want to repeat the mistakes it made in the 2012 assembly elections, when it lost after banking on state leadership thus it wants to proceed cautiously,” said a party leader privy to the development.
The high command's intervention comes amid changing power equations in the state unit, particularly after leaders aligned with former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi succeeded in replacing Punjab affairs in-charge Bhupesh Baghel and Warring.
Warring, who represents Ludhiana in the Lok Sabha, is now attempting to build a parallel power centre, sources said. On Monday, he called supporters, including some district presidents and former MLAs, to his Delhi residence instead of joining Pargat and other Punjab Congress leaders. The meeting came ahead of his participation in the “March for Democracy” to the Supreme Court with Rahul Gandhi and other Opposition leaders to submit a petition over their “vote chori” charge and against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
A day earlier, Warring had held a show of strength at his residence before attending Pargat's oath-taking ceremony. His moves indicate that he is unwilling to yield to his detractors. His defiance has not gone down well with Sachin Pilot and Pargat, who are closely watching his next steps, sources said.
Sources said Pargat's role would be limited to leading the state unit and coordinating with the central leadership, while the high command would oversee the broader campaign, identify key political issues and ensure coordination between state and central leaders. How Pargat establishes his authority with the Assembly elections approaching remains a key challenge.
Pilot, who was instrumental in Pargat's appointment and had a mandate from Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to resolve differences and revive the party in Punjab, faces the task of bringing Pargat, Channi, Sukhjinder Randhawa, Warring and Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa onto a common platform despite their chief ministerial ambitions.
Pilot will also have to ensure that the ambitions of Channi, Warring, Randhawa and Bajwa do not disrupt the party's functioning ahead of the elections. The high command is seeking to coordinate their roles and political activities to prevent internal differences from affecting the Congress campaign.
