The exact date has not so far been fixed. New Delhi: As the Congress gets ready for the 2027 assembly elections, Rahul Gandhi is preparing for a bus journey through Punjab. The proposed 135-kilometre journey is expected to begin in Amritsar in the first week of September and could take him up to Hussainiwala.
Internal Divisions Within Punjab Congress Ahead of Elections
As the Punjab Congress gears up for the upcoming elections, internal divisions among senior party leaders have become increasingly apparent. The rivalry between Punjab Congress President Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi has intensified, with Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa siding with Channi. Despite several meetings aimed at resolving these differences, the conflict remains unresolved, posing challenges for the party’s unity and electoral strategy.
The Congress has three main objectives for the journey. It wants Rahul to bring senior leaders from rival groups together on the same platform, reconnect with party workers and get the organisation active ahead of the polls. The proposed journey follows months of internal tension in the Punjab unit. During the party’s ‘Har Booth, Congress Mazboot’ campaign, disagreements between rival groups became public at several programmes. Posters targeting Baghel and Warring appeared in different parts of the state, adding to the problems faced by the party leadership. The main dispute is between Warring and Channi. The Congress has tried meetings as a way to settle the dispute. Senior leaders, including AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal, have met the Punjab leaders separately and together. Baghel has also travelled across the state as part of the party’s organisational campaign. The Congress is looking to rebuild its position in Punjab after a major drop in its strength in the state assembly. Channi, Warring and Randhawa are among the Congress MPs from the state. The party now wants to repeat its parliamentary performance into the assembly election. The internal fight among senior leaders has made that task difficult, with the leadership trying to keep the focus on organisation, candidates and election preparations.
The tour is also expected to mark the early start of the party’s campaign for the 2027 assembly election. The party won 77 seats in the 2017 Assembly election but was reduced to 18 seats in 2022, when Channi was the chief minister and led the party’s campaign. The party performed better in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, winning seven of the state’s 13 seats.
The Congress high command has backed the forme as state president and has said there is no plan to change the existing leadership structure. Baghel has also said that the party will not announce a chief ministerial candidate before the election.
