Baghel meets Punjab Congress leaders amid bad blood in party

Chandigarh: Punjab Congress in-charge Bhupesh Baghel on Tuesday met several state leaders, while those belonging to former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s camp skipped meetings with him for the second consecutive day amid continuing infighting within the party. State Congress working president Raj Kumar Verka, who met Baghel over breakfast, later held a meeting with Channi in an attempt to placate him. Punjab Congress has been in turmoil for over a week, with a group of party leaders led by Channi opposing Amarinder Singh Raja Warring’s continuation as the state party chief. The leaders have so far boycotted meetings called by Baghel in Chandigarh and instead flew directly to Delhi on Monday to meet the party high command. The factional war was triggered by a recent organisational reshuffle in the Punjab Congress ahead of the 2027 Assembly polls in the state. In the new committees, including the campaign, manifesto, election management and coordination committees, the party accommodated several senior leaders but chose to retain both Warring as the state Congress chief and Partap Bajwa as Leader of Opposition. However, the AICC decision appears to have backfired, with leaders backing Channi demanding that he be made Punjab Congress president to lead the party’s campaign for the next Assembly election. They held a meeting at Channi’s residence in Chamkaur Sahib last week in a show of strength. Meanwhile, former deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa’s meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah has also created ripples in political circles. Congress MP from Chandigarh Manish Tewari, who has been left out of the committees, has also reacted sharply to the appointments. Congress the only option in Punjab: Baghel Baghel, meanwhile, said the Congress was “the only option” in Punjab and people were looking towards the party. Presiding over a meeting of district Congress presidents, he expressed confidence that the party was fully prepared for the battle ahead. He said the people of Punjab were completely disillusioned with the Aam Aadmi Party, which, he alleged, had betrayed them and pushed the state towards bankruptcy and lawlessness. Baghel said other opposition parties, including the Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP, were nowhere in the reckoning and people were looking only towards the Congress.