Congress has only one face in Punjab, that is Rahul Gandhi: Bhupesh Baghel

Chandigarh, Jul 13 (PTI) Congress has only one face in Punjab and that is Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretary in-charge of the state Bhupesh Baghel said on Monday amid an infighting over the party's state leadership barely months before the assembly polls. "There are no ifs and buts in the minds of the people of Punjab. Just as they did in the Lok Sabha elections, the voters of Punjab are placing their trust in Rahul Gandhi for the assembly elections," Baghel said in an X post in Hindi. "The Congress Party has only one face in Punjab, and that is Shri Rahul Gandhi Ji," he added. Baghel's remarks indicate that the Congress may not declare a chief ministerial candidate ahead of the 2027 assembly elections and fight the polls under the overall leadership of Rahul Gandhi. If that happens, it will be a departure from the past, when Congress had fought the polls with a chief minister face from among the state leadership. In 2017, Congress had declared Captain Amarinder Singh as its chief ministerial face and secured a landslide win. Amarinder, who is now with the BJP, had also headed the Congress government from 2002-07. Months before the 2022 Punjab polls, Congress replaced Amarinder with Charanjit Singh Channi. In the election, the Congress won 18 out of the 117 assembly seats. Over several weeks, the Punjab Congress has been witnessing turmoil over the state party leadership. The issue seems to be far from over, with many leaders on Saturday pushing to replace Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring with Jalandhar MP and former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, even though Baghel had claimed that no one had an objection to the party high command's decision to give the incumbent another term. On July 1, the Congress announced that Warring would continue as the Punjab unit president and appointed Channi as chairperson of the campaign committee. Said to be "miffed" at not being appointed as the state unit president, Channi and leaders close to him had stayed away from meeting Baghel, who arrived in the state on July 6 on an apparent fire-fighting mission. After days of suspense, they finally met Baghel at party MLA Rana Gurjit's Sector 4 residence here on Saturday. At the meeting that lasted for nearly 80 minutes, the dissident camp -- which appeared to present a show of strength with over 80 leaders including MLAs turning up -- conveyed their sentiments against Warring's continuation as the state unit chief, sources had said. Shortly after the meeting, senior leader and MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa told reporters that they wanted a leader who was not "compromised". In Channi's presence, Randhawa said that they have conveyed party workers' feelings to Baghel, and it was also stated that sometimes a party's decisions have to be reversed. He indicated that Warring was not acceptable to the Channi camp. Baghel, however, claimed that no one had any objection to the party high command's decision over the state unit president. He, however, said that some colleagues conveyed certain concerns, which he would convey to the high command. While Warring was not part of the meeting, he drove Baghel to the airport immediately after it. Last week, Baghel ruled out any change in the state party leadership. PTI SUN VSD RUK RUK