Party leadership pushes unity and organisational changes.
With the Congress announcing organisational changes in Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Haryana, the grand old party is also set to make changes in Punjab, with most senior leaders having already met the party high command and projected a message of unity ahead of the crucial Assembly polls next year, sources said.
The Congress brought about a major organisational reshuffle on Friday by replacing the party in-charges for Odisha, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The party replaced Avinash Pande in Uttar Pradesh with Rajendra Pal Gautam, who is also the chief of the party’s Scheduled Caste department.
Similarly, the party appointed Lalji Desai as the in-charge of Odisha, replacing Ajay Kumar Lallu, who had been at loggerheads with state unit chief Bhakta Charan Das. The Congress also appointed Sanjay Dutt as Haryana in-charge after B.K. Hariprasad was made the Karnataka Congress chief.
Sources said the changes were brought about after detailed discussions among senior leaders, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, over the past few days.
The sources also said that the party is expected to carry out more changes in the coming days in states where elections are due next year.
Over the past two weeks, Kharge and Rahul Gandhi have met several Punjab leaders and discussed the current political situation in the state.
Rahul Gandhi also met Punjab leaders, including Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Charanjit Singh Channi, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Partap Singh Bajwa and Vijay Inder Singla, on Sunday.
A party insider said that the high command has finalised the new Punjab team and that the list could be announced in the coming days.
The insider also pointed out that Punjab leaders were categorically informed by the leadership about the need to set aside their differences and work unitedly for the party.
Following the leadership’s intervention, the Punjab leaders projected a united face and addressed a joint press conference, putting aside their differences.
Meanwhile, another party source said that after meeting Rahul Gandhi on Sunday, Punjab leaders, including Channi, Randhawa and Warring, also met Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal separately at his residence in Delhi earlier this week.
The source explained that with the BJP becoming increasingly aggressive in Punjab and after reportedly drawing several AAP Rajya Sabha MPs into its fold, the Congress has gone back to the drawing board to chalk out a fresh strategy.
According to the source, the party is likely to come up with a social coalition formula involving Jat Sikhs, Dalit Sikhs and Hindus in a bid to improve its performance in the upcoming Assembly elections.
The source also said that the manner in which Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann has been pushed on the back foot, coupled with the exit of several AAP Rajya Sabha MPs, including Raghav Chadha and Sandeep Pathak, could hurt the ruling party in the next elections.
Sensing an opportunity to return to power, Congress leaders in Punjab are now looking to sideline their differences and work unitedly under any leadership arrangement, the source added.
The source also claimed that Warring and Channi, who had been at loggerheads in the state, have patched up their differences over the past few days.
He further said that Channi, who is himself in the race for the post of Punjab Congress chief and has conveyed his aspirations to the leadership, appears increasingly confident about his prospects.
Singla, a former Sangrur Lok Sabha MP and one of the party’s prominent Hindu faces in the state, is also understood to be eyeing the top post.
Top sources confirmed that Channi is seeking the Punjab Congress chief’s post and is not keen on heading the campaign committee, a message he has already conveyed to the party leadership.
The sources also said that Warring wants a respectful exit from the post of Punjab Congress chief and is likely to be made the head of the campaign committee in the coming days, while other senior leaders could be accommodated in the coordination and manifesto committees.
This, according to the sources, is one of the reasons why Warring and Channi have moved closer in recent days despite their earlier differences.
Before suffering a crushing defeat to the Aam Aadmi Party in 2022, the Congress had performed strongly in the 117-member Punjab Assembly in 2017 across all three regions—Majha, Malwa and Doaba.
The Congress had won 40 of the 69 seats in the Malwa region, 22 of the 25 seats in Majha and 15 of the 23 seats in Doaba in 2017.
Now, the source said, the Congress has already begun preparations for the Punjab polls, leaving behind the high-profile exits of former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, Sunil Jakhar, Navjot Singh Sidhu and his wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu.
The party is hopeful that all Punjab leaders will remain united and not give the public the impression that it is a divided house with little control from the central leadership.
