Chandigarh: Congress Lok Sabha MP and Punjab party chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring’s offer to resign from his post after the high command decided to replace him, may finally end a leadership dispute that has made headlines now for three months.
Warring had offered to resign Wednesday and Thursday he changed his bio on his X handle referring to himself as “former” Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president. Neither his resignation letter, nor a decision, if any, on his resignation has been made public by the Congress high command.
Warring, who is considered close to Rahul Gandhi, offered to resign after it was learnt that the new party Punjab incharge Sachin Pilot has reported to the high command that Warring’s continuing on the post will not be conducive to the party, especially in view of the Assembly elections early next year.
Several senior leaders are camping in Delhi as the decision regarding Warring’s replacement is yet to be taken. It is learnt that Warring too has been summoned to Delhi.
Political experts, however, point out that there might be a slip between the cup and the lip. “If Warring has accepted the high command’s decision, the matter should ordinarily be straightforward: he offers to resign, a successor is appointed and the party moves on. But the reported offer rather than a clearly publicised resignation leaves room for another interpretation,” said Dr Kanwalpreet Kaur of the department of political science DAV College Sector 10 Chandigarh.
“It gives Warring the opportunity to present the departure as something imposed by the central leadership rather than a political defeat within Punjab. It also leaves open the possibility that the issue could once again become a public discussion within the party if the formal process is prolonged,” said Dr Kaur.
Senior leaders of the party, including former chief minister Chiranjit Singh Channi and former deputy chief minister Sukjinder Singh Randhawa are vehemently opposed to Warring. The simmering discontent within the party had exploded 3 July when Channi convened a meeting of his supporters to press for Warring’s removal. More than 90 leaders attended the meeting.
Channi’s open rebellion came after the Punjab Congress decided to retain Warring despite sustained opposition from these leaders.
However, the then Punjab in-charge Bhupesh Baghel defended the Punjab Congress’ decision to retain Warring and made it clear that changing the PCC president was not something he was prepared to treat as a routine organisational exercise.
The ugly fights continued through July and August, with senior leaders skipping programmes organised by Warring and publicly questioning the functioning of the state unit.
Warring’s critics constantly questioned his effectiveness as the head of the state’s principal opposition party. They have argued that Warring has not been combative enough against AAP, especially Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. Individual Congress leaders, particularly Sukhpal Singh Khaira, have often been more aggressive and visible in taking on the AAP government.
In a bid to undo the criticism, Warring led some protests against the Mann government in recent weeks, including demonstrations over drugs, law and order and the death of Gulzar Singh. On 8 September, he led Congress workers in a protest march towards the chief minister’s residence.
In the first week of September, Pilot replaced Baghel as AICC general secretary in-charge of Punjab. It was a blow to Warring while Pilot’s appointment was viewed by the Channi faction as a sign that the central leadership was open to reviewing the decision to retain Warring.
Pilot was tasked with reassessing the situation as also bringing a semblance of unity among the leaders. He held consultations with senior leaders and party functionaries and prepared a report for the party’s top leadership of Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and K. C. Venugopal.
Pilot did succeed, briefly, in showcasing unity. On 15 September, he brought the rival camps together for a protest against the Bhagwant Mann government. Warring, Channi, Randhawa and Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa appeared on the same platform.
But the unity was temporary. A few days earlier, the Channi camp stayed away from a Warring-led protest, with senior leaders including Randhawa, Pargat Singh, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Rana Gurjeet Singh absent.
The decision to remove Warring despite widespread opposition within the state has been difficult also because of his close association with the Rahul Gandhi camp. In the past few months, he has continued to appear alongside Rahul Gandhi in national protests and programmes.
In July, Warring was seen alongside Rahul Gandhi during the Congress’ protests in Delhi. More recently, the party’s preparations for Gandhi’s Punjab visit involved meetings in Delhi attended by Warring, Baghel and Bajwa, even as the dispute about Warring’s leadership remained unresolved.
“Warring has retained a degree of confidence in Delhi, and that has repeatedly protected him from the demands for his removal coming from within the state organisation,” added Kaur.
Who will the party choose in place of Warring is the next big question. Channi has remained the most visible challenger. Randhawa too is said to be in the race. The name of Vijay Inder Singla, a former MP from Sangrur, is also doing the rounds. Whatever the decision, experts agree that the continuing uncertainty over leadership is costing the party a lot.
The stakes are particularly high because the party is in an election year. Warring was originally appointed in the aftermath of the party’s disastrous 2022 Assembly election, when Congress was reduced to 18 seats. His appointment represented an attempt by the central leadership to rebuild the party. Under his leadership, Congress won seven of Punjab’s 13 Lok Sabha seats in 2024, and Warring himself won from Ludhiana.
The Congress has already spent July, August and September debating Warring. Every additional week spent debating the mechanics of the change is a week in which the party is talking about itself rather than the Mann government or the issues on which it intends to fight the election. The party also needs to convince its workers that the leadership is serious about staking a claim to power.
Currently, the Congress party is seen by voters as being in the doldrums due to factionalism. On the other hand, the ruling party as also the Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP have already sounded the poll bugle in the state. On Wednesday, BJP national president Amit Shah addressed an election rally in Jalandhar. The Akali Dal has been organising gatherings across the state for the past six months. The ruling AAP has focused its attention on fulfilling its pre-poll promises.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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