NEW DELHI: Congress general secretary and Punjab in-charge Bhupesh Baghel on Saturday held a meeting with party leaders considered close to former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi amid the ongoing rift in the party over its state leadership.This comes after Channi, along with several Congress workers, stayed away from a meeting with Baghel after he was overlooked by the party and Amarinder Singh Raja Warring was appointed Punjab Congress chief.Senior party leaders like Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Bharat Bhushan Ashu and Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa attended the meeting. Leader of opposition and senior party leader Partap Singh Bajwa, who was invited by Rana Gurjit Singh, and former deputy chief minister O P Singh were also present at the meeting.‘Will safeguard everyone’s interests’After the meeting concluded, Baghel said every leader agreed that the party should abide by the decision of the high command. He also assured that concerns raised by the party workers would be conveyed to the party high command.“I met and spoke with all our colleagues, and they shared their views with me. Everyone agrees that the party should abide by the decision of the high command, and there is no objection to that. Everyone stands united. There were a few issues that our colleagues raised. I assured all of them that, as the General Secretary in charge, I will safeguard everyone’s interests,” Baghel said.“If someone is a deserving and winnable candidate, they will certainly be given a ticket. I have given them that assurance. Our colleagues have raised certain concerns, and I will convey all of them to the party high command,” he added.Dismissing speculation over a possible change in the Punjab Congress leadership, Baghel said there was no discussion regarding the replacement of Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring.“No such talk took place,” he said, adding, “All is well.”‘Tel dekhenge, tel ki daar dekhenge’Earlier in the day, Channi fueled speculation with his cryptic remarks ahead of the meeting. “Baaki tel dekhenge, tel ki daar dekhenge (wait and watch),” he said.Asked if Warring was acceptable to them as the state Congress president, Channi said everything would be discussed in the meeting.“We have just arrived for the meeting. Let us go inside first. We will sit down and hold detailed discussions there. After that, we will assess the situation and decide the next course of action,” he said.In an X post on Friday evening, Channi wrote, “United for Punjab. We have invited Punjab Congress in-charge Bhupesh Baghel ji on July 11 to place before him the sentiments of Congress workers and the people of Punjab.”Interestingly, Warring was not part of Saturday’s meeting with Baghel.When asked before the meeting if the Channi camp had not invited Warring, senior leader and MP Sukhjinder Randhawa said, “He (Warring) can better reply whether he was not invited or he is not coming.”When asked about his absence from the meeting, Warring said from another venue, “The party’s general secretary in-charge meets everyone. It is not necessary that all meetings have to happen in the presence of the state unit president.”When asked if the Punjab Congress would see unity, Warring quipped, “This meeting is about that.”This comes after the Congress high command announced a major organisational reshuffle in Punjab, retaining Warring as Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president while appointing Channi as chairman of the Campaign Committee, a move widely seen as an attempt to balance competing factions within the state unit.According to a statement issued by AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge approved the appointments with immediate effect. Under the new structure, Channi will head the campaign committee, Vijay Inder Singla will chair the election management and coordination committee, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa will lead the core committee, and Amar Singh will head the manifesto committee.Later, Channi called a crucial meeting at his residence in Morinda, where several leaders, including stalwarts such as Bharat Bhushan Ashu, were in attendance and voiced support for his leadership. The leaders urged the party high command to reconsider the recently announced organisational appointments in Punjab, asserting that the Congress would return to power under Channi’s leadership.
