Sonia names Rahul loyalist Raja Warring as party’s Punjab chief

Sonia also named former Rajya Sabha member Pratap Singh Bajwa as the new legislature party leader, former minister Sonia names Rahul loyalist Raja Warring as party’s Punjab chief

Bharat Bhushan Ashu as the working president and SC leader Raj Kumar Chabbewal as deputy CLP leader in the Vidhan Sabha.

“The Congress President has appointed Amrinder Singh Brar (Raja Warring) as President and Bharat Bhushan Ashu as Working President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. The Congress president has appointed Pratap Singh Bajwa as Leader and Raj Kumar Chabbewal as deputy Leader of Punjab Congress Legislature Party in Punjab,” the party said in a statement.

The appointments bear the stamp of Rahul Gandhi who had named Warring as Indian Youth Congress president and Bajwa as Punjab Congress chief a few years ago. Warring remained the IYC chief till 2018.

The appointments bear the stamp of Rahul Gandhi who had named Warring as Indian Youth Congress president and Bajwa as Punjab Congress chief a few years ago. He was the transport minister in the party’s Charanjit Singh Channi-led government. The 44 year-old was among 18 winning Congress candidates in the recent Punjab Assembly polls in which the party was swept away by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) wave.

Warring managed to win his Gidderbaha seat in the election for the third consecutive time.

A combative leader, Warring had been the president of the Youth Congress during 2014-2018. As the new PPCC chief, he replaces cricketer-turned-politician Sidhu, who had resigned after Gandhi asked the Congress unit chiefs of all five election-bound states to step down following the party’s comprehensive electoral debacle.

Warring is another Congress leader who began as a student politician. He learnt his initial political lessons from Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala and Jagmeet Brar, who is now in the Shiromani Akali Dal.

Warring, who had lost his parents at an early age, won praises from the close aides of Rahul Gandhi during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections while working in Uttar Pradesh.

It helped Warring in getting the party ticket from Gidderbaha against a heavyweight rival like Manpreet Singh Badal, who had then floated his own outfit, in the 2012 Assembly polls. Former Congress chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh had then wanted to give the party ticket to Raghubir Pardhan from Gidderbaha. Not only Capt Amarinder, his political guru Jagmeet Brar too had not backed Warring during the campaign. But Rahul Gandhi campaigned for him and he managed to beat Manpreet with a significant margin.

Warring won comfortably from Gidderbaha in the 2017 Assembly polls again. But, despite winning the election for the second time in a row, he could not secure a place in the then Capt Amarinder Cabinet as he was never close to the latter. Manpreet Badal, who had then joined the Congress, became the finance minister though.

The tussle between Warring and Manpreet could never end. Manpreet also had access to Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. It was humiliating for Warring to remain out of Cabinet despite his spectacular start in Punjab politics by defeating Manpreet. After the Congress leadership ousted Capt Amarinder and brought in Channi to replace him as the CM in September last year, Raja Warring was inducted as the transport minister into the new Cabinet.