Instead, the party’s internal feud repeatedly exploded in his presence, exposing the limits of the high command’s troubleshooter and ultimately paving the way for his replacement. Bhupesh Baghel was sent to Punjab with a clear task: to put the Congress house in order ahead of the 2027 assembly elections.
Baghel’s stint as Punjab Congress in-charge was marked by an escalating battle between rival camps led by state Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi. What was supposed to be an organisational strengthening exercise increasingly turned into an exercise in factional firefighting. During Baghel’s subsequent statewide organisational tour, the rebellion moved from closed-door meetings to the streets.
At a Congress programme in Patiala, workers raised slogans such as “Channi lao, Punjab bachao” in the presence of Baghel and Warring.
Supporters of Channi loyalist Bharat Bhushan Ashu reportedly arrived wearing anti-Baghel T-shirts, while rival groups clashed at the venue. The irony was difficult to miss: the man brought in to unite Punjab Congress had himself become the target of the rebellion. The continuing crisis also reached the Congress high command, with Punjab MLAs seeking intervention from the central leadership. And now comes the clearest indication that Baghel’s intervention failed to deliver the desired result as Congress replaced him with Sachin Pilot as the party’s general secretary in-charge of Punjab.
The biggest embarrassment came in Ludhiana on August 6, when a Congress meeting convened to prepare the party for the 2027 elections was disrupted by protesters shouting “Bhupesh Baghel Go Back”.
Even Baghel’s warnings of disciplinary action failed to bring an end to the factional war. The Channi camp continued to question Warring’s leadership, while competing factions kept flexing their political muscle. By late August, a Congress show of strength at Baba Bakala again exposed the fault lines, with Channi and his supporters putting up a strong display while Warring’s camp remained conspicuously absent from the stage.
