Bhupesh Baghel will meet Channi today, State President Raja Vading distanced himself from the meeting.

Chandigarh: Amidst the preparations for the Punjab Assembly elections 2027, the internal strife within the state Congress has now come to the fore. The deepening dissatisfaction after the party high command’s decision to retain Amarinder Singh Raja Vading as the state president is going to turn into a big political incident today. Former Chief Minister of Punjab and Congress MP from Jalandhar Charanjit Singh Channi will have an important meeting with the party’s Punjab in-charge Bhupesh Baghel today i.e. on Saturday. Channi has made it clear that he, along with the senior leaders of his supporting group, will strongly present the sentiments of the people of the state and the grassroots workers in front of the in-charge.

Political gathering at Rana Gurjit’s residence

This important meeting has been called at the residence of senior Congress leader and MLA Rana Gurjit Singh. According to sources, many senior faces of Punjab Congress can be seen along with Charanjit Singh Channi in this meeting, which includes former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Pargat Singh, Bharat Bhushan Ashu and Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Pratap Singh Bajwa. However, the most attention-grabbing thing in this entire development is that the current Punjab Congress President Amarinder Singh Raja Vading will not be a part of this meeting, which directly confirms the factionalism within the organization.

Channi’s announcement on social media

Earlier on Friday evening, Charanjit Singh Channi wrote on social media platform

Secret meeting of Channi’s supporters

Actually, Bhupesh Baghel is on a tour of Punjab since July 6 and is taking feedback in view of the upcoming elections. Channi had not met Baghel before. Political experts believe that the Channi camp is very angry with Channi being made the chairman of the election campaign committee and Vading being handed over the command again. On July 6, a secret meeting of Channi’s supporters was also held in Mohali, in which the demand was raised to hand over the command of the state president to him again, whereas Bhupesh Baghel has already made it clear that there will be no change in the leadership of the organization.

Demand raised to make Channi the CM face

Amidst the controversy, the family of former Union Minister Buta Singh has opened a front in favor of Channi. Buta Singh’s son Sarabjot Singh and daughter Gurkirat Kaur, after meeting Channi, have demanded that Rahul Gandhi and the Congress high command should fight the 2027 assembly elections only by declaring Charanjit Singh Channi as the chief ministerial face. On the other hand, Raja Vading, while trying to do damage control, has said that there is no difference of opinion in the party and no senior leader has said about rejecting his leadership. Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinet has also expressed confidence that all internal issues will be resolved through talks.