The Congress leadership has called an important meeting of Punjab leaders in New Delhi on Tuesday as the party steps up preparations for the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections and the meeting comes at a time when the Punjab Congress is facing internal differences between senior leaders.
The meeting has been convened by Punjab Congress in-charge Bhupesh Baghel and it will focus on the work of the committees recently formed for the Assembly elections and on assigning responsibilities to party leaders.
Apart from Punjab Congress chief Raja Warring, several senior leaders have been called to attend the meeting. These include Campaign Committee Chairman and former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Core Committee Chairman Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Manifesto Committee Chairman Dr. Amar Singh, Election Management Committee Chairman Vijay Inder Singla, along with the party's working presidents and co-chairpersons, however, it is still not clear whether Charanjit Singh Channi and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa will attend the meeting. Earlier, both leaders had publicly stated that they would not share a stage with Raja Warring and that they do not accept him as their leader.
The meeting will also be attended by Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal and his presence is considered important as the party leadership is expected to discuss the ongoing differences among Punjab Congress leaders while reviewing election preparations.
This will be the first meeting of Punjab Congress leaders after the recent open disagreement within the state unit. The Congress high command recently formed four committees to prepare for the Punjab Assembly elections, soon after these committees were announced, differences within the Punjab Congress became public.
Leaders from the Channi camp questioned the leadership of Raja Warring after the committees were formed. Many of the leaders appointed to these committees are believed to be from the Channi faction and even during Bhupesh Baghel's recent six-day visit to Punjab, he held meetings with party leaders in an attempt to resolve internal differences. However, the differences continued even after his visit.
Because of these ongoing differences, the upcoming Delhi meeting is expected to provide an opportunity for both sides to discuss their concerns before the Assembly election campaign gains momentum and according to the information available, Bhupesh Baghel has invited the chairpersons, co-chairpersons and working presidents of all four election-related committees. The meeting is expected to focus on assigning responsibilities to committee members so that election preparations can move forward.