"Bhupesh Baghel Go Back": Sloganeering Disrupts Punjab Congress Meet

The internal rift within the Punjab Congress seems to show no signs of abating with an organisational meeting, convened here on Thursday to take stock of the party's preparations for the 2027 assembly elections, witnessing "go back" slogans and protests against senior leaders Bhupesh Baghel and Amrinder Singh Raja Warring.

Both Congress's Punjab in-charge Baghel and the party's state president Warring attended the meeting at the Guru Nanak Bhawan.

Some people wearing T-shirts bearing the slogan "Baghel Go Back" were spotted at the event venue and they raised slogans against both Baghel and Warring, alleging that the party leadership was disregarding internal dissent.

The situation escalated when Warring allegedly referred to the protesting members as "RSS agents" during his address asking them to leave, prompting renewed sloganeering and a brief scuffle between his supporters and allegedly those of former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu.

The disruption undermined the party's efforts to project unity and once again brought the Punjab Congress's internal divisions into public focus.

Warring, who is also the MP from Ludhiana, took on his detractors and those who tried to disrupt the programme.

Without naming anyone, he said he had personally helped some of them "when they were hounded by the state vigilance bureau" and now they are raising slogans.

Without directly naming senior leader Ashu but describing him as his "brother", Warring pointed out that when he (Ashu) was arrested by the vigilance bureau, he (Warring) staged continuous dharna outside the bureau office while he (Ashu) was in its custody for eight days.

The Ludhiana MP claimed that those who tried to disrupt today's programme were the agents of the RSS.

At the same time, Warring said the Congress is not the personal fortress of any particular leader. He said, it is not also any monopoly of any one leader and belongs to everyone.

Speaking on the occasion, Baghel made it categorically clear that indiscipline had no place in the party. There will be zero tolerance towards indiscipline, he said, while adding, those who had tried to disrupt the party programmes will be identified and action will be taken against them.

Nobody will be spared, he asserted.

The former Chhattisgarh chief minister said that while the Congress' external enemies are visible and identified, those inside working as "sleeper cells" and "internal saboteurs" will need to be exposed and thrown out.

He pointed out, it was not anybody's personal programme but that of the Congress party and was being done on the instructions of the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.

He expressed confidence over the "massive response" the Congress programmes have been getting across Punjab. He said, the writing is on the wall and the Congress is coming back after the Assembly polls in the state.

Baghel lashed out at both the BJP and the AAP for their failure to serve the people. He alleged that under the BJP regime, donations had been looted in Ayodhya.

Punjab Congress has been struggling with factionalism, despite repeated assertions by the party leadership that efforts are underway to strengthen organisational unity ahead of the elections.

The infighting came to the fore when the Congress leadership on July 1 announced its decision to retain Warring as the state unit chief and appoint former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi as the chairperson of its campaign committee.

A section of leaders led by Channi opposed the move to retain Warring as the Punjab Congress president and sought his removal from the position.

Baghel and Warring have been visiting various districts during the past few days as part of the party's "Har Booth, Congress Mazboot" programme.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)