New Delhi: The internal political drama within the Punjab Congress intensified on Monday as a powerful faction loyal to former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi reportedly departed for New Delhi. Sources confirmed that the group is seeking an urgent audience with the party’s central high command to formalise their grievances against Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Amarinder Singh Raja Warring. The sudden trip comes at a sensitive time, coinciding with a scheduled visit to Punjab by the All India Congress Committee in-charge for the state, Bhupesh Baghel, who is tasked with handling regional organizational matters.
The latest escalation stems from a high-stakes strategy session convened by Channi at his Morinda residence. During that gathering, regional stalwarts, including former cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, openly challenged Warring’s executive leadership and demanded his immediate removal from the state presidency. The dissenting block urged the central high command to scrap recently finalized state organizational appointments, aggressively pitching Channi as the ideal leader to guide the party through the upcoming electoral cycle. Channi later clarified that senior party officials had specifically encouraged him to channel and present the authentic aspirations of the Punjab cadre directly to the central leadership in New Delhi.
Seeking to project a counter-narrative of stability, senior leader and Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa posted a photograph of the Channi-led group on the social media platform X with the pointed caption, “Unity is Strength.” The image included prominent figures such as Manifesto Committee Co-Chairman Pargat Singh and Election Committee Co-Chairperson Razia Sultana. Although initial observers noted the absence of key leaders like LoP Partap Singh Bajwa, MLA Sukhpal Khaira, and PCC Chief Warring, the official handle of the Punjab Congress and Warring himself later reshared the photograph with the exact same caption to downplay claims of institutional fragmentation.
Downplaying the reports of a severe structural split, former Ludhiana MLA Simranjit Singh Bains criticized the media for viewing routine party interactions through a divisive scanner. Bains insisted that the state unit remains entirely integrated from the grassroots workers up to the top management. He asserted that the ongoing public speculation would soon be put to rest when Raja Warring, Charanjit Singh Channi, and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa are publicly seen traveling together alongside the Congress high command in a unified show of strength.
