Navigating faction-riven Punjab Congress, Raja Warring may run into Sidhu wall

After taking charge of the Punjab Congress, Warring convened his first meeting of party leaders at Amritsar on Friday, but Sidhu skipped it and instead chose to meet party dissidents like ex-PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar and expelled Congress leader Amrik Singh Dhillon.

The Congress was ousted from power in the Assembly polls, which was attributed primarily to its rifts and intense infighting. Amid a massive wave for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which swept the state, the grand old party was routed in the polls, managing to win just 18 out of the total 117 seats.

The factionalism that plagued the Congress stemmed mainly from Sidhu’s aggressive bid to get declared as the party’s chief ministerial face in the elections instead of the incumbent CM and Dalit leader Charanjit Singh Channi. Jakhar was engaged in his own political posturings.

Sidhu’s resentment was evident after top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had declared Channi as the party’s CM candidate just ahead of the polls. It was another matter that Channi lost from both his seats, Bhadaur and Chamkaur Sahib, in a state that accounts for 32 per cent Dalit population — the highest in the country. Sidhu also lost the election from his Amritsar East constituency.

Days after lying low following his resignation as the Punjab Congress chief, Sidhu again got active, raising issues, meeting party leaders and activists, and questioning the functioning of the newly-formed Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government on a host of issues, including law and order and sand mining.

It was perceived as Sidhu’s attempt to stage a comeback to the helm of the state party unit. However, apparently miffed with his performance and conduct as the PPCC chief, especially his persistent moves to undermine Channi, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) leadership decided to ask Warring, a combative partyman, to lead the state unit.

Despite the AAP’s wave, Warring, who is considered close to Rahul Gandhi, managed to win his Gidderbaha seat for the third consecutive time. He had been the Youth Congress president during 2014-2018.

While he did not attend the Congress meeting held by Warring, Sidhu met during that day the party’s four-time MLA Amrik Singh Dhillon, who was expelled by the leadership for contesting as an Independent candidate after the denial of the ticket. A number of ex-Congress MLAs accompanied Sidhu as he met Dhillon. He also met Jakhar, to whom the AICC disciplinary committee has recently issued a show-cause notice for using “objectionable language” in comments purportedly aimed at Channi.

Sidhu has also been ensuring that the videos of his meetings with the Congress leaders are posted on his social media accounts. These developments

indicate that with the AICC leadership pushing for the Punjab Congress’s revamp and the outspoken cricketer-turned-politician bent on reasserting himself, the factionalism gripping the state party unit may continue to rage.

Sidhu has been a bête noire of former CM Captain Amarinder Singh, who had led the Congress to victory in the 2017 Assembly polls and had headed the Congress government during 2002-07. But he suffered an unceremonious exit in September last year, when the party leadership replaced him with Channi as the CM. Subsequently, Capt Amarinder quit the Congress and floated his own outfit that allied with the BJP in the recent polls, although it came a cropper.

Sidhu had played a key role in queering the pitch for Capt Amarinder. Apart from the Congress leadership, the new PPCC president would closely watch his play in the state party affairs in the coming days.