Bhupesh Baghel holds meetings with warring factions of Punjab Congress

To bring warring factions on one platform, AICC general secretary Punjab affairs in-charge Bhupesh Baghel held multiple meetings with Punjab Congress leaders over the past two days in Delhi.

Among the leaders who attended the meeting were former CM Charanjit Channi, MLA Kapurthala Rana Gurjeet, Jalandhar MLA Pargat Singh, former Cabinet ministers Bharat Bhushan Ashu and former MLA Kushaldeep Dhillon. Some other leaders also met Baghel.

Though the leaders are mum on the closed-door meeting, Baghel is learnt to have given a patient hearing to all the leaders and their grievances against PPCC chief Amrinder Raja Warring and CLP leader Partap Singh Bajwa. A crucial part of the meeting was that Baghel listened to Ashu, who had been kept away from party meetings after he lost the Ludhiana (West) byelection.

Sources said the leaders in the anti-Warring camp told their side of the story to counter the arguments given against them after the party lost the Ludhiana bypoll.

The issue of recent war of words between Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh and former Zira MLA Kulbir Zira and similar other incidents were also discussed at the meeting.

The meeting happened after the AICC general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal — in a meeting of the state political affairs committee — conveyed party president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi’s message to party leaders that “indiscipline and breaching the party line will not be tolerated”.

The Congress high command has categorically told its Punjab leaders to sink their differences and put up a united face in the run-up to the 2027 Assembly elections. It is learnt that the PPCC chief also met Baghel after the other group met him. The issue of the coming Tarn Taran byelections was also discussed.