The Congress party in Punjab has familiar faces from almost all castes, making it a strong challenger in the 2027 Assembly polls in Punjab. The expectation of coming back to power with a majority has led several leaders into lobbying mode to be better placed today so that they will have leverage to demand a greater role after victory. This has led to intense factionalism in the state.
Apart from veteran Manish Tewari being sidelined after the high command notified the roles and responsibilities given to all its Lok Sabha MPs in the state except him, there are many more who are not happy with the current leadership in the state. This is because Congress strategists think that the party should go into the Assembly elections with Jat leadership. But in the process, Congress leaders suggest, they have been less considerate towards former chief minister and Dalit leader Charanjit Singh Channi, who has been wanting to lead the state unit and retain the chief ministerial position in case of victory.
In the recent Congress decision, two Jat leaders, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring as the state unit president and Pargat Singh as the Leader of Opposition, were allowed by the high command to continue in their positions, while Charanjit Singh Channi was made the chairman of the campaign committee.
The Campaign Committee, though, also holds considerable power at the hustings as it is responsible for planning and executing the party's election campaign. But according to leaders, Channi wants holistic control of the state unit and thinks that he can only, even covertly, have a proportionate standing in the party, if he heads the party.
Now, even after conducting several meetings, the party has not been able to pacify the situation in the state through dialogue. The problem lies on several fronts: the cadre is said to be unhappy with Warring's style of functioning; then there is Baghel who, Congress leaders say, has not been able to invest productive time in greasing the state unit well; and then there is Channi, whose ambitions are making him go the extra mile to cut through the party's decisions and demand a clearer picture for himself in the state, one that can assure him that he will be appointed as the CM.
But the state unit in-charge, Bhupesh Baghel, has dismissed any chance of a change in the high command's decision. He said that he would soon meet Channi. "When the high command has taken a decision, it is not changed. 'Koi gudda-guddi ka khel hai kya ke baar-baar nirnay badla jaega? (Is this a child's play that the decision will be changed repeatedly?)'," Baghel said on Wednesday. Such a stance could bring more confrontation if Channi doesn't fall in line.
Earlier in June, Rahul Gandhi had held one-on-one meetings with five senior leaders in Punjab Congress in order to finalise organisational changes in the Punjab unit. But that decision scattered the leaders more.
There is also a worry at the higher echelons that if the party reverses its decisions, it will send a negative message across the country that the party can be pressured into taking back its decisions. This could make several factions bolder in launching protests against party decisions and demanding a greater role for themselves, thereby disbalancing the high command's role.
