Pro-Channi slogans raised at Congress event in Barnala as infighting continues

The internal rift in the Punjab Congress refuses to abate despite efforts by the top party leadership, with supporters of former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi sloganeering at party programmes attended by Bhupesh Baghel, the AICC general secretary in-charge for the State, for the second consecutive day on Sunday (August 2, 2026).

Mr. Channi’s supporters raised slogans at an event in Barnala on Sunday (August 2, 2026). Pro-Channi slogans had disrupted the “Har Booth Congress Mazboot” programmes in Patiala and Sangrur on Saturday (August 1, 2026).

Mr. Baghel, however, said it was time for the Congressmen in Punjab to remain united and fight “the big battle” against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which were “two sides of the same coin”.

At the Barnala event on Sunday (August 2, 2026), a group of partymen started raising slogans in favour of Mr. Channi, briefly interrupting the programme. Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring urged them to let the meeting continue. “No nara (slogan),” he told them.

Barnala MLA Kuldip Singh Kala Dhillon got down from the stage in a bid to calm down the Channi supporters.

Without naming anyone, Mr. Dhillon said, “In this State, there are five to seven leaders who speak in Delhi and make up their own stories. Sitting at Indira Bhawan in Delhi, they speak about strengthening the Congress. Then they come back and start undermining others (in the State). We need to remain cautious of these people.”

Former Minister Razia Sultana called upon the party high command to take strict action against all those who were indulging in indiscipline and damaging the party. She warned that if timely action was not taken, the party could suffer major damage. “Nip the evil in the bud,” Ms. Sultana remarked.

The Punjab Congress has been struggling with factionalism, despite repeated assertions by the party leadership that efforts are underway to strengthen organisational unity ahead of the 2027 Punjab elections.

The infighting came to the fore when the Congress leadership on July 1 announced its decision to retain Mr. Warring as the State unit chief, and appointed Jalandhar MP Channi as the chairperson of its campaign committee.

During his address in Barnala, Mr. Baghel said, “The Congress is the only party in the country with internal democracy and takes decisions with consensus. Nobody knows how presidents and conveners are appointed in parties like the BJP and the AAP.”

Mr. Baghel, who is currently on a tour of the poll-bound State, said Punjab would lead the way for Congress’s victory at the national level.

“We need to get rid of the BJP government at the Centre and the AAP government in Punjab,” he said, adding, “We will start with Punjab. We will throw away the corrupt and incompetent government and bring a people-friendly government instead.”

Mr. Warring called upon party workers to come together with discipline and dedication. “No election can be won without making the party strong at the grassroots,” he said.

Mr. Warring pointed out that in 2022, sitting and former Chief Ministers lost elections mainly because the Congress did not focus on micro-management at the grassroots level, despite having done a great job between 2017 and 2022.

Exhorting the party workers, he said that just the way they broke AAP’s Barnala citadel in the 2024 bypolls, they should next target to bring down Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s forte in Sangrur.