As the Lok Sabha election draws closer, the Congress unit in Punjab appears to be struggling to set its house in order, finding itself in a situation similar to what the party saw before the 2022 State election.
Former Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu is in the eye of the storm.
He has been addressing several independent rallies in the State following his early release from jail after being imprisoned in a road rage case.
‘Prospects at risk’
His actions have evoked sharp criticism from senior Punjab Congress leaders, who are of the opinion that his actions may risk the party’s electoral prospects.
In particular, Mr. Sidhu is stoking party tensions by publicly supporting an electoral alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the State against the backdrop of the INDIA bloc, thus going against the views of several senior leaders who have been critical of the same.
Mr. Sidhu’s rallies have also seen support from various leaders who were earlier expelled by the Congress for “anti-party activities”.
Although Punjab unit president Amarinder Raja Warring said he had no objection to Congressmen holding rallies, Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa urged Mr. Sidhu, following a rally in Bathinda on December 17, to “join the party’s programmes instead of setting up his own platform”.
Subsequently, Mr. Sidhu posted a reaction of a group of his loyalists, including former MLAs, stating that various office bearers, including Mr. Sidhu, “are not invited to most Punjab Congress events”.
Demands for ouster
As the factionalism within the party came to the fore, various leaders, including incumbent MLAs, even demanded last month that Mr. Sidhu be ousted from the Congress.
In a joint statement titled “Bomb in the Basement: Sidhu Waiting To Implode”, they added that the former State unit president’s actions “often work against the interests of the party as a whole”.
Meanwhile, in a rally held in Hoshiarpur district on Tuesday, Mr. Sidhu made a veiled attack on his opponents, saying he merely seeks to speak up in the interest of the State.
“Five to seven thousand people gather to see me. I don’t know why that gives some people a stomach ache,” he said.
Damage control
In a bid to ease simmering tensions, the party’s newly appointed Punjab affairs in-charge, Devender Yadav, on Tuesday met senior State Congress leaders, including Mr. Warring, Mr. Bajwa, and Mr. Sidhu, in Chandigarh.
Emphasising that he sought to understand the State unit’s positioning ahead of the elections, Mr. Yadav said: “I am committed to engaging with every leader, worker, and official to address concerns and gain a nuanced understanding of the party’s functioning.”
