Tackling factionalism: Bhupesh Baghel to meet Punjab Cong leaders soon

All-India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary incharge for Punjab Bhupesh Baghel on Wednesday said he was aware of differences among state party leaders and would soon meet them over it.

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The comment came a day after two senior Congress leaders Pargat Singh and Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon quit as the state unit vice-presidents.

In their resignation letters, both stressed the need for the restructuring of the Punjab Congress while seeking a “collective introspection” on the party’s defeat in the Ludhiana Assembly bypoll.

Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu too quit as the working president of the party’s state unit following his defeat, threating a vertical split in the party ranks.

Flagging indiscipline by the leaders who campaigned for Ashu, state Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring is learnt to have brought the issue to the notice of the party high command.

Earlier, in the run-up to the bypoll, Warring and Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa had remained largely away from canvassing. Ashu too had got a team of his choice to campaign, including Rana Gurjeet Singh, who in the past had dubbed Warring a “selfish leader”.