No leadership change but Congress warns Punjab unit over making public statements

With its Punjab unit riddled in factionalism, Congress central leadership on Thursday “strongly” warned senior leaders, including former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, against making statements in public, saying indiscipline will not be tolerated.

The leaders in Punjab were also bluntly told not to seek appointment with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge or Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi in “groups” to complain against inner-party rivals or lobby for posts.

With just a year left for the Assembly elections, Kharge, Rahul, General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal and in-charge Bhupesh Baghel held a meeting with Punjab leaders like state president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa and other senior leaders.

The meeting came days after Channi, a Dalit Sikh, claimed that Jat Sikhs are dominating the party and Dalits are not given their due, which were countered by Warring, saying that he was made a Chief Minister, MP and a Congress Working Committee.

With elections round the corner, the factional fight between Warring, Channi and Bajwa have intensified.

After a three-hour-long meeting, Venugopal told reporters the leaders have been directed to refrain from making public statements and posting on social media. “Strong directions have been given to leaders against going to the media, social media and creating internal issues,” he said.

Insisting that the High Command “will take decisions on candidate selection, campaigning and everything”, he said there is no question of leadership change in the Punjab unit.

Asked about Channi’s statements, Venugopal said with the former Chief Minister by his side, the Congress national line of giving representation to Dalits, tribals, OBCs and poor of the general category is applicable to Punjab but activities like going public was not helpful for the party.

To a question on over 30 leaders jointly writing to Rahul seeking an appointment, he said seeking appointment individually is not an issue but seeking a meeting in “groups” is not acceptable. Kharge and Rahul will hold programmes in Punjab and there are ample opportunities for meetings, he said.

The meeting also comes as the Congress appears to be struggling to maintain its position of ‘default challenger’ to AAP in Punjab after back to back defeats in bypolls since November 2024, even losing sitting seats that were vacant due to MLAs getting elected as MPs.

Altogether, Congress lost five out of six bypolls since November 2024 and three of them were its sitting seat though it wrested one from AAP. In the Lok Sabha polls, Congress had won seven out of 13 seats, leaving three to AAP, two to independents and one to Akali Dal.

The latest bypoll defeat in Tarn Taran last November had triggered dissent against Warring with a section of leaders raising the pitch for a leadership change. In a meeting late last year, reports suggested that Bajwa said that he was removed as party head in the state earlier despite working hard at the behest of a pressure group, which could be repeated.