- Amrinder Singh Raja Warring refused to resign as Punjab Congress president amid party infighting
- Warring vowed to keep strengthening the party even if replaced by the high command
- Factionalism surfaced during former chief minister Channi's event, with Warring absent from posters
Amid infighting in the Punjab Congress, its president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring on Monday asserted that he would not step down from the post.
Warring also said that if the party leadership decides to replace him, he would continue working to strengthen the organisation.
The Ludhiana MP made the remarks during a media interaction in Bathinda in the presence of AICC general secretary in charge of Punjab Bhupesh Baghel.
Warring has in recent days faced sloganeering from supporters of former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi during the party's programmes.
Replying to a question, Warring said, "I am not resigning." He further said that if the party high command decides to replace him, he would continue to work to strengthen the organisation.
Warring said that for the past four years, he has worked wholeheartedly for the party, and it even won 7 of 13 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Factionalism in the state unit surfaced during Channi's Ferozepur visit on Monday when he went to attend the coronation ceremony of newly elected Municipal Council president Ashok Sachdeva and his team at the Town Hall complex.
The event was organised by former MLA Parminder Singh Pinki.
Several senior Congress leaders, including Lok Sabha MP Sher Singh Ghubaya, former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, ex-MP Mohammed Sadiq, and former MLAs Raminder Singh Awla, Davinder Ghubaya and Karan Kaur Brar, were also present.
However, photos of Warring and Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa were missing from the event posters there.
Warring and Baghel interacted with the media in Bathinda and Muktsar during the party's 'Har Booth, Congress Mazboot' programmes.
During the past few days, noisy scenes were witnessed at party events after some supporters of Jalandhar MP Channi raised slogans in his favour when Warring addressed party workers.
Murmurs of discontent began doing the rounds after the Congress decided to retain Warring as its Punjab unit president, while Jalandhar MP Channi was appointed the chairperson of its campaign committee.
On Monday, a poster surfaced in Muktsar with a picture of Baghel with the caption "Go Back Baghel" while another poster mentioned, "Rahul Gandhi listen to the cry of Punjabis. Bring Channi, let's form Congress government".
Baghel sought to blame the rival parties for the posters and told reporters that such posters show that "we are working in the right direction". "AAP and BJP are having problems, and it shows that they are scared." In Muktsar, the Congress blamed Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for trying to disturb the party programmes being organised across the state under the 'Har booth, Congress mazboot' campaign.
Baghel and Warring claimed that those who tried to disturb and disrupt the Congress programmes were doing it at the behest of the ruling party and Chief Minister Mann.
Speaking on the occasion, Baghel pointed out that there were no such disruptions on the first day in Fatehgarh Sahib and Mohali.
"Once the government saw that Congress programmes were drawing huge crowds, they started planting their people into the programmes and causing disruptions," he said, apparently referring to the sloganeering.
Baghel hailed Warring, saying that Rahul Gandhi handed over the command of the party to him when it had badly lost and come down from 80 to 18 seats.
Without elaborating, he said Warring was facing a challenge from both outside and inside the party.
He said this was because it was certain that the Congress would return to power in Punjab.
He alleged that AAP had created the mafia raj in Punjab and had drowned the state in huge debt, and claimed that only the Congress can remove the AAP from power and provide a better government.
He said the Congress had to fight both the outside challengers like the BJP, Akalis, AAP, Waris Punjab De and internal "sleeping cells" within the party as cautioned by Rahul Gandhi.
Baghel said those who have betrayed the party cannot be spared.
Warring delivered a highly emotional speech in his hometown in Muktsar.
"Everyone is after my life. Akalis, BJP and the broom (AAP) and even some of our own are after me," he said.
"I have not committed any sin, and my only sin is that when we came from 80 to 18, I was handed over the reins of the party," he added.
He expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the people of Gidderbaha for electing him as MLA earlier.
Warring said he was only one of the two Congress MLAs from Malwa, which had earlier 69 party MLAs. "When the sitting and the former chief ministers lost, Gidderbaha made me win, and I can never forget that." Maintaining that he started from scratch when the morale of the party's rank and file was low, and some leaders preferred to stay abroad for months together, Warring said he led from the front.
Reaffirming his commitment to the Congress, he said the party has given him everything.
"I have no desire to be the chief minister. I would rather retire than leave the Congress," he said, adding, "Rahul Gandhi also knows that Raja Warring can die, but never compromise with the BJP".
Asserting that the Congress was making a huge comeback, he said the time of (Narendra) Modi and (Arvind) Kejriwal was up.
Warring said Bhagwant Mann had lost the confidence of the people of Punjab and they wanted to get rid of him at the earliest.
