Rift may cost Cong dear, caution party leaders 

Infighting in the Punjab Congress may cost it dear in the upcoming Ludhiana (West) Assembly bypoll as the party high command has failed to check factionalism despite instances of indiscipline by senior leaders.

The apprehension was expressed by several party leaders a day after the rift in the Congress came to the fore during a Sultanpur Lodhi rally, where party leaders called for disciplinary action against Kapurthala legislator Rana Gurjeet Singh.

State Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Gurdaspur Lok Sabha MP Sukhjinder Randhawa had also asked the party leadership to identify “sleeper cells” of other parties within.

Just 2 km from the Congress venue, Rana Gurjeet’s son and Independent Sultanpur Lodhi MLA Rana Inder Partap Singh held a parallel rally.

Though the legislator’s rally wasn’t attended by his father, sources said he played a crucial role in mobilising support for it.

The differences in the party has come out in the open even as AICC general secretary incharge for Punjab Bhupesh Baghel had told Congress leaders not to wash their dirty linen in the public. While Baghel was not available for comments, Punjab affairs co-incharge Alok Sharma tried to downplay the issue.

“The Congress had organised Parivartan Rally at Sultanpur Lodhi and other one was held by an independent MLA. The party has nothing to do with it,” he said.

However, a senior Congress leader said the party high command should have acted on time to address the issue.

“Be it the initial utterances by Rana Gurjeet against Warring or the counter-attack on Rana by rival faction leaders, the party high command should have acted on time to nip the feud in the bud,” the leader said. “Now, rival factions have taken upon themselves to hit out at each other at a time when the bypoll are drawing near,” the leader added.

Another leader cautioned the party against conceding a “self-goal”, saying the upcoming bypoll could either prove to be a “take-off point” for the BJP in the run-up to the 2027 Assembly poll or an opportunity for the Congress to re-establish itself among urban Hindu voters. “Sending across a message about infighting in the Congress at this juncture is a self-goal,” the leader said.