Chandigarh: The simmering discontent within the Punjab Congress over the newly constituted election committees burst open Friday, with former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi convening a meeting of his supporters to press for a review of the newly announced state leadership.
Meanwhile, senior party leader and Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa’s Friday meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah over law and order in Punjab added another layer of intrigue to the unfolding power struggle.
The developments came barely two days after the Congress leadership constituted election committees for Punjab ahead of the 2027 assembly elections, retaining Amarinder Singh Raja Warring as Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president and Partap Singh Bajwa as Leader of the Opposition.
While Channi was appointed chairman of the campaign committee and Randhawa made chairman of the party’s core committee, the composition of the committees failed to satisfy the warring factions in the Punjab Congress.
At his residence in Morinda, Channi held a closed-door meeting attended by over 60 leaders including two dozen former MLAs and ministers. At least five sitting MLAs, including Rana Gurjit Singh, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, Kuldeep Singh Dhillon, Hardev Singh Laadi Sherowalia were also present. The Congress has 16 MLAs in the assembly.
Emerging from the three and a half hour-long meeting, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa said the participants had unanimously authorised Channi to seek an appointment with the Congress high command and request it to reconsider certain decisions. “We have no conflict with the party high command. But certain decisions have been taken which everyone feels need to be reviewed,” he said.
Bajwa further said that Congress workers from different parts of Punjab had come to meet Channi to express disappointment over the newly announced list. He said it was decided that Channi should convey the concerns directly to the party leadership in Delhi and seek a review of the appointments.
“Congress party leadership called on me at my residence and urged me to present the sentiments and aspirations of the people of Punjab before the High Command,” Channi wrote on X.
Congress party leadership called on me at my residence and urged me to present the sentiments and aspirations of the people of Punjab before the High Command pic.twitter.com/hGI6Kihbkf
— Charanjit Singh Channi (@CHARANJITCHANNI) July 3, 2026
Although the leaders refrained from publicly naming individuals whose appointments should be reconsidered, party sources indicated that the principal grievance centred on the decision to keep Warring on as state Congress president.
Sidhu Moosewala’s father Balkaur Singh, who has been politically associated with the Congress and is considered to be close to Warring, also attended the meeting.
Former deputy chief minister O.P. Soni was among those who joined the gathering, lending additional weight to what was widely seen as a show of strength by leaders dissatisfied with the high command’s decisions.
Notably absent were Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Pargat Singh and Randhawa, underlining that while resentment over the reshuffle is shared by several senior leaders, different camps are pursuing different strategies in dealing with the high command.
The resentment has been building for several weeks as speculation mounted that the high command could appoint a new Punjab Congress chief in an effort to energise the organisation before the assembly elections. Both Channi and Randhawa were seen as serious contenders for the post.
For Channi, who remains one of the party’s tallest Dalit faces after becoming Punjab’s first Dalit chief minister in 2021, a Punjab Congress presidency was viewed by many supporters as recognition of his continuing political relevance following his victory from Jalandhar in the Lok Sabha elections.
Randhawa, a former deputy chief minister and influential Jat Sikh leader from Majha, also had strong backing within sections of the organisation that believed a leadership change would help broaden the party’s social and regional appeal.
Instead, the Congress high command chose continuity over change. While it attempted to strike a balance by assigning important responsibilities to Channi and Randhawa in the election campaign structure, the decision to retain Warring and Bajwa in their existing positions appears to have disappointed leaders who had expected a larger organisational reset.
Randhawa’s meeting with Amit Shah
Adding to the day’s political drama was Randhawa’s meeting with Amit Shah, which immediately triggered speculation in political circles about his future in the Congress, especially as it coincided with the growing unrest within the Punjab unit.
Randhawa, however, rejected suggestions that the meeting had anything to do with his political future or dissatisfaction with the Congress. He said he had sought the meeting after writing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the first week of June regarding the deteriorating law and order situation in Punjab, particularly in the sensitive border districts which he represented as an MP.
I refute the mischievous political slant being given to my meeting with the Union Home Minister by certain sections of the media.
The meeting was pre-scheduled for today in connection with my representation on the deteriorating law and order in the State of Punjab. pic.twitter.com/fzLZ0oULlP
— Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa (@Sukhjinder_INC) July 3, 2026
Randhawa said he had raised concerns over increasing gangster activity, extortion, Pakistan-sponsored narco-terrorism and what he described as the “political weaponisation” of the Punjab Police under the current Director General of Police.
At the same time, Randhawa did not hide his disappointment over the organisational reshuffle. While dismissing rumours of joining the BJP, he acknowledged that the final list was not on the lines he had expected after the multiple meetings of Punjab leaders with the observers.
Congress MP from Chandigarh Manish Tewari too had written a cryptic post on X about the new poll committees. “I wish I had an antidote for the insecurities of individuals and institutions! Having said that @INCIndia has given me enough over the past 45 years and I have also devoted my entire adult life in the service of the Indian National Congress over the decades., Whatever will be, will be…”
BJP leaders had a field day over the growing infighting in the Congress. Union Minister Ravneet Bittu said in a video message that it was well-known that Warring was in cahoots with AAP CM Bhagwant Mann.
“The fact that Warring has not been changed goes on to show that the Congress is in alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party. Rahul Gandhi did not give any importance to the wishes of the Punjab leaders… he has finished Congress and he is not bothered about Punjab either,” said Bittu.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)