Warring, Ashu differences ‘fuelling’ factionalism in Ludhiana dist Cong

Factionalism in Punjab Congress seems to have percolated into the Ludhiana District Congress as well. There seems to be clear division between supporters of the PCC president, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring — who is also the local MP — and those of former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu. This is primarily due to strong differences between Warring and Ashu, who were otherwise very close before the 2024 parliamentary elections.

By and large, majority of Congress leaders in Ludhiana, including former MLAs like Sanjay Talwar, Kuldeep Singh Vaid, Rakesh Pandey, Surinder Dawer, Simarjit Singh Bains and senior leaders like Pawan Dewan are rallying behind Warring. However, this is probably because he happens to be the local MP as well as the PCC president.

Recently, a senior party leader and former state general secretary Gurmail Singh Pehalwan held a separate meeting with some leaders and former councillors of the party, alleging that they were being ignored and marginalised.

Confirming the meeting, Pehalwan accused DCC president Sanjay Talwar of encouraging factionalism. “Talwar is the DCC president, and under the new scheme, the DCC president will have a significant say in allotting tickets,” he said, adding that, “Talwar, being himself a ticket aspirant, is trying to sideline leaders and workers like me.” Before Talwar, Pehalwan had contested from the Ludhiana East Assembly segment.

Warring has tried to maintain distance from local politics. Otherwise, the local MP tends to be more involved. He is understood to have given full authority to the DCC president.

However, senior party leader Pawan Dewan said that there was no factionalism in the Congress in Ludhiana. He said only one leader was working independently, while the rest of the leadership was united. He added that Warring had been taking everyone along. At the same time, he said party activities would begin very soon as the election year had started.

A few Congress leaders said there was no office for leaders to hold meetings. “We cannot go to the DCC president’s office every time to hold meetings. This is the time when we should be together and move strategically, but here everyone is working independently,” rued another leader, wishing not to be quoted.

Despite repeated attempts, DCC president Sanjay Talwar could not be contacted for comments.