The Congress leadership told the party’s state unit chief, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, to stand down after feedback gathered by newly elected AICC general secretary in-charge Sachin Pilot over the past three weeks, people familiar with the matter said.
Channi would be comfortable after Warring’s exit and Jatt Sikhs (the most influential section of the Sikhs in Punjab) won’t have any trouble,” a Punjab lawmaker said. A majority of the party’s seven Lok Sabha MPs from Punjab and several senior state leaders sought a change of guard, prompting the party leadership to begin an exercise to find a new state chief who could maintain social and regional equations and work alongside Charanjit Singh Channi, the only Dalit chief minister of Punjab till date. Punjab heads into state elections early next year. In his report to the Congress leadership after getting the feedback, Pilot pitched for change in the state leadership, a stand that was in sharp contrast to the report that Baghel presented to the leadership in July this year. At the time, Baghel had virtually ruled out a change of guard. Former Union minister Vijay Inder Singla, who is from the bania community, is seen as a frontrunner to replace Warring. “A Hindu face can secure temporary peace in the Punjab unit. Channi and Singla are from the Malwa region while Bajwa belongs to the Majha region.
Pilot, who replaced Bhupesh Baghel on September 5, held a series of discussions with state leaders and MPs. A senior Punjab leader said Raja Warring ’s position became untenable when the Congress replaced Bhupesh Baghel and brought in Sachin Pilot on September 5 to get the state unit into shape. In 2022, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won a landslide victory, securing 92 of the state’s 117 seats. The incumbent Congress won only 18 seats, and Sukhbir Singh Badal-led the Shiromani Akali Dal was confined to just 3 seats. “Singla can attract the Bania voters in Malwa, the largest electoral region with 69 seats.
The Banias primarily control the agricultural trade in this region and have deep links with the farmers,” said a third MP.
