Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, who quit this week as Punjab Congress chief amid raging factionalism, on Friday met Rahul Gandhi and later said that Sachin Pilot, the party’s state affairs in-charge, wanted him to step down. Insisting, however, that no one expressly had asked him to resign, Warring was blunt about what actually caused his exit.
“Channi saheb has won,” he said, referring to former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, who led the camp opposed to his continuance as state unit president.
Raja Warring, MP from Ludhiana, resigned as Punjab Congress president on September 30, about six months before the 2027 Assembly elections, ending a tenure that began in April 2022 and was marked in recent months by open rivalry between his camp and Charanjit Singh Channi’s.
Former central minister Vijay Inder Singla, a Hindu face from the Bania community who heads the party’s election management committee, had emerged as a prominent contender. Jalandhar Cantonment MLA and former hockey captain Pargat Singh was eventually chosen, though former deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Rana KP Singh and Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria were the other Jat Sikh names being discussed. Channi, who comes from the Dalit community, is seen as the most prominent face of the party and is the head of the campaign committee, a position he got in July, though he remained dissatisfied as long as Warring remained president.
Raja Warring, MP from Ludhiana, resigned as Punjab Congress president on September 30, about six months before the 2027 Assembly elections, ending a tenure that began in April 2022 and was marked in recent months by open rivalry between his camp and Channi’s. Earlier reporting noted: Pargat Singh appointed Punjab Congress chief after Warring’s exit, takes charge ahead of 2027 Assembly polls The Indian National Congress on Friday appointed former Olympian and Jalandhar Cantonment MLA Pargat Singh as the new president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC). Earlier reporting noted: Singh will replace Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, and take charge ahead of the 2027 Assembly polls in Punjab. Warring, who had headed the state unit since April 2022, met Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in Delhi and submitted his resignation .
Asked whether internal party feedback had played a role, Warring said, “The internal feedback of the party has been there for four and a half years. He added that Pilot “may have given new feedback to the party”. He has not reacted yet to Warring’s exit, but has been speaking of “Channi sarkar”, his brief stint as CM before the 2022 loss, on his social media handles.
Earlier reporting noted: The Jalandhar Cantonment MLA’s elevation comes after months of differences within the Punjab Congress. Congress’s Punjab affairs in-charge Sachin Pilot had held consultations with state leaders before the leadership change.
What Comes Next
The Congress faces the Aam Aadmi Party government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. A potential alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiromani Akali Dal remains in the works, and the Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De) of jailed MP Amritpal Singh is also in the fray. Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to undertake a bus tour across the state to mark the start of the Congress campaign, a key event before which the party is keen to quell, or at least paper over, fissures that are no secret.
Assembly elections in Punjab are due in early 2027.
