factionalism-ridden-congress-faces-the-heat-in-punjab-now

The Congress continues to be plagued by the perennial problem of factionalism. After Rajasthan and Haryana, now it seems to be Punjab where the warring leaders have come into the open. Just like Haryana, where the party snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with warring factions trying to outdo each other, Punjab seems to be heading in the same direction.

 

In Haryana, the Congress looked certain to return to power. In Punjab, there is no such probability as of now, except that the Aam Aadmi Party may face anti-incumbency and the Congress may get a chance.

 

The Punjab Congress is headed by a relatively young and energetic Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, a three-time former MLA and now sitting MP from Ludhiana. He defeated Ravneet Singh Bittu, his one-time friend and colleague, in the last General Elections in 2024.

 

While Warring won the Ludhiana parliamentary seat, he lost his friend Bharat Bhushan Ashu, prominent and senior leader of the party from Ludhiana, who also aspired to contest from here. He felt betrayed by Warring and the two parted ways since then. Ashu later became a rallying point for the anti-Warring faction.

 

Ashu recently lost the Ludhiana West by-election to the Aam Aadmi Party. Factionalism in the party became obvious during the campaign itself. Ashu had demanded Rana Gurjeet Singh, former minister and expert in campaign management, as his campaign manager. Rana was the campaign manager during 2014 parliamentary elections for Capt Amarinder Singh against Arun Jaitley. Singh defeated Jaitley by over one lakh votes.

 

While former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, former ministers Pargat Singh, Sunder Sham Arora, Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Dr Raj Kumar Verka and others joined the campaign, some prominent leaders of the party, including Leader of the Opposition in Punjab assembly Partap Singh Bajwa, AICC general secretary and Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, former minister Brahm Mohindra and former Punjab assembly Speaker Rana KP Singh, both prominent Hindu leaders from the state, kept away from the campaign for unexplained reasons.

 

Warring also made only token appearance on the day of nominations and a couple of press conferences in the party’s support. He did not join the roadshow on the final day of the campaign, although he was very much in town. Warring, besides being PCC president, also happens to be local MP as the Ludhiana West assembly segment falls within the Ludhiana parliamentary constituency.

 

While these leaders have maintained that they were not asked or invited to join the campaigning, Ashu has been asking why did they need a “formal invitation” when it was the party’s fight and not just his individual one.

 

Immediately after the declaration of the result when Ashu lost, he tendered his resignation from the post of PCC working president, owning moral responsibility for the defeat. Soon after, two state vice presidents Pargat Singh and Kikki Dhillon, too, resigned from their posts. Singh and Dhillon are in the rival camp, which also includes Ashu.

 

Also read: AAP’s redeeming victory in by-elections after grave setbacks

 

The purpose of the resignations goes beyond the mere moral responsibility. This is clearly being done to build up pressure on PCC president Warring to resign as well. After all, he happens to be the PCC president and also the local MP and he cannot escape the onus of the defeat.

 

As the party appears to be vertically divided in Punjab, it may not be very easy for the high command to find the right choice ahead of the crucial 2027 assembly elections. Normally, the high command replaces the incumbent PCC president about a year or so ahead of the elections. That period has already started, hence these fireworks.

 

Prominent aspirants for the position of PCC president are already regimented in two factions. If someone from one faction is appointed, he will not be accepted by the rival faction. The party will need to find someone “neutral” who will be acceptable to both the factions, though it is not very easy to find such a leader in a faction-ridden party. One has to be identified with one faction or the other for long-term survival.

 

The Congress party’s time is running out. There are just 19 months left for the elections. But the actual process and activity starts at least six months before the elections. Effectively, the Congress has only one year left. If it decides to change the leader, which in all likelihood it will have to, it must do it sooner than later. The new state president will need some time to settle down before launching the battle.

 

The Congress indeed does have a better chance of a comeback, provided it plays its cards well. ‘Ludhiana West’ by-election results apart, there is a lot of anti-incumbency against the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, which is likely to intensify further. Moreover, Punjab does not have a good record of returning the incumbent governments. The year 2012 was an exception and even then there was just one percent difference in the overall vote share between the winning and the losing parties/ combinations.

 

The other challenger, a possible Akali-BJP combine, still stands lesser chance than the Congress, as the Akalis are yet to find acceptability among the rural masses.

 

In fact, it is the Congress’ prospects in 2027 that have triggered the factional war in the state unit. Like in Haryana, the state leaders already seem to be eyeing the chief ministerial position. There are many aspirants like Charanjit Singh Channi, Pratap Singh Bajwa, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Rana Gurjeet Singh and also Raja Warring. Presuming the party’s victory 19 months in advance, most of these leaders are staking claim to the chief minister’s post. What they do not realise is that even a week is a long time in politics.

 

Given the intent and the actions, whether they will make their party win or not in 2027 is certainly not sure; what is certain is that they are headed for a political bloodbath before that and it may prove to be the party’s undoing.