CHANDIGARH: With two years left for the 2027 Assembly elections, dissent is brewing within the Punjab Congress, as several senior leaders have raised concerns over the working style of state unit president and Ludhiana MP Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa.
Sources said that on Thursday, several top leaders, including state unit working president Bharat Bhushan Ashu, vice-presidents Pargat Singh, Khushaldeep Dhillon, Inderbir Bolaria, former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and former Cabinet minister Tript Rajinder Bajwa, met Punjab affairs in-charge and former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel in New Delhi to air their grievances.
The meeting, sources said, was triggered by a show-cause notice issued to former Faridkot MLA and state party vice-president Khushaldeep Dhillon for allegedly breaching party discipline by airing issues during a television interview.
Former Cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who has been given a ticket by the Congress from Ludhiana (West) for the upcoming bypolls, is reportedly upset over the lack of support from the state leadership when he was arrested by the Aam Aadmi Party-led state vigilance bureau in what he called a “political vendetta.” Ashu is facing corruption charges in a foodgrain transportation case.
The dissenting leaders told Baghel that the notice to Dhillon was unwarranted, asserting that he had not said anything against the party. They also complained of being sidelined in key decision-making by the state’s top leadership.
Meanwhile, Jalandhar Cantonment MLA and former Indian hockey team captain Pargat Singh is also learnt to have voiced displeasure with Bajwa during the meeting.
This comes just days after Baghel met senior Punjab Congress leaders to address internal differences. Earlier, Baghel had supported both Warring and Bajwa, urging party members to unite ahead of the 2027 Assembly polls.
He had also dismissed rumours of a leadership change following senior leader Rana Gurjeet Singh calling Warring a “selfish leader” and expressing willingness to take over the state unit.
Rana Gurjeet's son, Rana Inder Partap Singh, had contested as an Independent from Sultanpur Lodhi after being denied a Congress ticket in the 2022 Assembly elections and won.
Warring, however, downplayed the meeting, saying the leaders met Baghel “not against him, but to strengthen the party,” and termed the notice to Dhillon “an internal matter of the party.”
There seems to be no end in sight to the infighting within the Punjab Congress. Just last month, during the party’s political affairs committee meeting in Delhi, objections were raised against Warring and Bajwa for allegedly not involving all members in major decisions and placing personal interests above those of the party.