- Jalandhar MP Charanjit Singh Channi skipped Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha speech to lead a rally in Faridkot
- Channi was the only Punjab Congress MP absent during the speech despite group attendance requests
- State Congress president Raja Warring led a separate protest against AAP over recruitment exam cheating
As the Leader of Opposition spoke in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, one absence in the Congress group has once again brought the factionalism in the party's Punjab unit to the fore.
Jalandhar MP and former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi skipped Rahul Gandhi's speech in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday and instead attended a rally in Faridkot.
Channi was the only one of the Congress' seven MPs from the state who was absent during Gandhi's speech.
This despite Amritsar MP Gurjit Singh Aujla, who heads the Congress parliamentary group, reportedly sending a WhatsApp message to all MPs to be present in the House during Gandhi's speech.
Channi instead led a Congress dharna outside Baba Farid University in Faridkot against the AAP government over the Pharmacy Officer recruitment exam cheating controversy.
The protest saw the presence of several leaders considered close to Channi, including former MLA Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon and a large number of party workers. Their participation was seen as a display of support for Channi's leadership.
Channi has been locked in a tussle with state Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring.
Interestingly, on Wednesday Raja Warring led a protest by Punjab MPs against the AAP government over the exam issue outside Parliament, demanding the resignation of state Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains, but Channi chose to be in Faridkot leading his own protest.
The Congress has been trying to bridge the Channi-Warring divide ahead of the polls, and a "secret" meeting of the two leaders was organised by poll strategist Naresh Arora in Delhi on Tuesday, as was reported by NDTV.
But the meeting seems to have had little impact, as Channi and Warring led separate protests against the Punjab government on Wednesday.
On July 1, the Congress leadership decided to continue with Warring as the state president. Channi was given charge of the campaign committee and MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa was made the head of the core committee. But several Punjab Congress MLAs and former candidates, led by Channi and Randhawa, opened a front to remove Warring.
To douse the fire, Punjab in-charge Bhupesh Baghel camped in Chandigarh for a week. Organisation general secretary KC Venugopal then called angry leaders, including Channi and Randhawa, to Delhi and advised them to maintain discipline. Following this, Channi declared that he was with the decision of the party high command.
Later, all senior leaders of the Punjab Congress attended a meeting called by Venugopal at the party headquarters, "Indira Bhavan". Channi and Warring sat side by side, and the party claimed that the dispute had been resolved.
But according to informed sources, Channi and Warring are not even on talking terms, and the truce looks more like a photo-op.
Earlier, on Monday too, Punjab Congress MPs led by Warring staged a protest in the Parliament House complex demanding the resignation of the state education minister. Channi and Randhawa were missing from that protest as well.
Baghel is starting another tour of Punjab from Thursday, where he will meet local leaders.
