The Congress in Punjab is grappling with deep factionalism a year ahead of the Assembly elections, as it prepares to take on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which swept the state in 2022 by winning 92 seats and reducing the Congress to just 18 from its earlier tally of 77.
At the heart of the current turmoil is an underlying confrontation, between former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Punjab Congress president Amarinder Raja Warring. As state unit chief, Warring is widely seen as having consolidated his position, a development that has arguably weakened Channi’s prospects as the leading figure within the party.
“Raja Warring is a Jat Sikh, and there is a dominant belief within the party that if Congress returns to power in Punjab, it may appoint a Jat Sikh as chief minister,” a senior Congress leader said. “That possibility appears to have unsettled Channi, who has already held the top post and wants to come back as a leading figure in the state.”
AICC general secretary in-charge of Punjab, Bhupesh Baghel, has confirmed recently that there would not be any CM face for the party in the Assembly polls.
Speaking at a recent meeting of the party’s Scheduled Caste wing, Channi openly raised concerns about representation. “In Punjab, if the Dalit population is 35–38 per cent, which it is, then why are we not getting representation?” he asked. He went on to point out that the Punjab Congress president, the CLP leader, the women’s wing president and the party’s general secretary in the state all belong to upper castes. “Where do we go? Where will these people go?” Channi had underlined the domination of Jat Sikh leaders in key organisational posts in the state unit.
The roots of Jat Sikh dominance in Punjab politics run deep. For decades, the state’s political leadership, across parties, has largely been controlled by Jat Sikhs. Almost all chief ministers in Punjab’s history have come from the community, including Parkash Singh Badal, who served five terms, Captain Amarinder Singh, who served twice, and Partap Singh Kairon.
There have been only two exceptions in the past six decades: Giani Zail Singh (1972–77) who belonged to the Ramgarhia (OBC) community, and Charanjit Singh Channi (2021–22), the state’s first Dalit Sikh chief minister, who held office for just 111 days after Captain Amarinder Singh was removed by the Congress's central leadership.
Significantly, Channi had earlier been offered the role of AICC general secretary in-charge but declined, arguing that he wanted to remain focused on state politics rather than take on a national organisational role.
Warring, too, for his part, has publicly countered Channi’s claims, asserting that the former chief minister already holds one of the most powerful positions in the party as a Congress Working Committee (CWC) member. “The biggest position in the party is that of a CWC member. Who holds it? Charanjit Singh Channi saab,” Warring said. “Channi saab cannot say he does not have space in the party.”
The public statements by both the leaders have shown that there is a deeper fault line of division within the party that may pop up somewhere or the other unless the Congress takes up extraordinary measures to settle down the discontent.
Although the Congress central leadership warned the senior leaders later against making statements in public, saying indiscipline within the party will not be tolerated while ruling out any leadership change. However, according to political observers, the power struggle does not die down with a one meeting.
"It needs constant involvement of the central leadership by defining proper roles to the leaders and engaging with them whenever minor friction arises," a political observer says, "this has to be done till the elections and failure to do so would risk allowing internal rivalries to overshadow the party’s political preparation."