Warring out, Pargat Singh in: Has Congress solved Punjab crisis or created more confusion?

NEW DELHI: The churn in Punjab Congress is now complete. Or is it?Amarinder Singh Raja Warring is out and Pargat Singh is the new Punjab Congress president. The change came hours after Warring resigned from the post, ending his more than four-year stint as state party chief. Warring met Rahul Gandhi on Friday and formally submitted his resignation. A day earlier, he had changed his X bio to “Former PPCC President”, signalling the leadership change."He (Rahul Gandhi) gave me a lot of love. He sought information about the current political situation in Punjab, on what is happening with the government and what we should be doing there," Warring said after his meeting.Hours later, the Congress announced the appointment of Pargat Singh as the new Punjab Congress president with immediate effect. The party also appreciated the contribution of outgoing president Warring.The change in Punjab Congress comes after months of infighting over who should lead the Congress into the 2027 assembly election. The crisis was triggered by Congress’s decision to retain Warring as state unit president in July, ignoring the claims of former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi. So, Warring’s exit marks a victory for Channi and his supporters, but the entry of Pargat Singh means he does not gain from Warring's loss.Warring is out, but not downWarring may be out of his post, but has dropped strong hints that his fight may be far from over. Hours after formally stepping down, Warring targeted his detractors, signalling he is not leaving the field yet. If Warring’s remarks against party incharge Sachin Pilot are an indication to go by, we could well see a reversal of roles in Punjab Congress infighting.In an interaction with news agency ANI, Warring said. “I feel that Sachin Pilot must have decided it was time to remove ‘Raja’ from the post.” Warring, though, added that he had “no concrete proof” of this.Warring added he had not spoken to Pilot about his exit, but had heard that the state Congress incharge may have recommended a change. “Perhaps the in-charge mentioned that Raja Warring would have to be replaced,” he said when asked about the reasons for his resignation.Taking digs at those responsible for his exit, Warring said nobody had formally asked him to resign. Instead, he had simply read the “direction of the wind”."Just like elder women who could tell by reading the direction of the wind whether it was going to rain... I observed the situation closely, and it never reached the point where someone had to ask me to resign," Warring told IANS.That, he said, was why he changed his X bio to “Former PPCC President” even before formally submitting his resignation to Rahul Gandhi.The timing and the turn of events are hard to miss. Nearly a month ago, Congress removed former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel as Punjab in-charge after the Channi faction openly rebelled against him. Baghel was accused of favouring Warring and was eventually replaced by Sachin Pilot.But now, Warring appears ready to open a front against Pilot and, of course, also Channi.That also raises questions about whether replacing Baghel with Pilot has actually helped Congress settle the Punjab crisis. Sugata Srinivasaraju, senior political analyst and author, believes that the leadership change appears to have created more confusion rather than resolving the crisis at hand."What is it that the Congress saw in Pilot that they did not see in Baghel? If you thought Baghel was part of the problem, now Pilot has also become part of the problem. He’s not part of the solution," he said.According to him, Congress may now have ended up with an even bigger problem. "All of them were against Warring. Now Warring goes out and Channi has not been catered to. So we don't know what's going to happen."Both Baghel and Warring are now out of their roles in Punjab Congress. For the Channi camp, it means one of their biggest demands has been met. But with Pargat Singh in the chair, will today's change end weeks of internal feud and bickering in Punjab Congress? Perhaps not.To understand why Warring’s exit and Pargat's entry may not be the end of the crisis, it helps to go back to where the tussle began.How the Channi-Warring tussle beganThe crisis began on July 1, when the Congress leadership announced that Warring would continue as Punjab Congress president and Channi would head the campaign committee. Senior leaders Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Vijay Inder Singla were also given specific roles for the 2027 assembly election.On paper, it looked like an attempt to balance competing camps. In practice, it did the opposite.Channi’s supporters questioned why Warring was being retained as state chief and began pushing for a larger role for the former chief minister. What was meant to settle the leadership question instead reopened old faultlines within the party.Warring had been appointed Punjab Congress president after the party’s crushing defeat to AAP in the 2022 assembly election. Channi had been the party’s chief ministerial face in that campaign but lost both seats he contested.(function(){function e(){window.addEventListener(`message`,function(e){if(e.data[`datawrapper-height`]!==void 0){var t=document.querySelectorAll(`iframe`);for(var n in e.data[`datawrapper-height`])for(var r=0,i;i=t[r];r++)if(i.contentWindow===e.source){var a=e.data[`datawrapper-height`][n]+`px`;i.style.height=a}}})}e()})();Warring was then brought in by the Congress high command (read Rahul Gandhi) to rebuild the organisation and prepare it for the next election. For nearly four years, however, the Congress did not clearly announce who would lead its 2027 campaign.When it finally tried to do that in July, the compromise pleased no one.Bhupesh Baghel, who was then Punjab in-charge, tried to defuse the tussle between the Channi and Warring camps but was also caught in the crossfire and forced out of the state.His replacement, Sachin Pilot, initially managed to bring the rival factions onto the same stage during the Congress protest over the Gulzar Singh suicide case. But that show of unity did not last long.What followed was another round of meetings, complaints and feedback to the high command and, eventually, Warring's exit and Pargat's entry.Warring out, but Channi not inThe Congress high command acted swiftly after Warring's exit and handed over the baton to Pargat Singh. The three-time Congress MLA from Jalandhar Cantt and former Indian hockey captain who has served as Punjab cabinet minister in Charanjit Singh Channi cabinet, has his task cut out.Pargat's name was doing the rounds along with other key contenders which included, former MLA Rana KP Singh, Raja Sansi MLA Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa. But the frontrunner before today's appointment was former PWD minister and MP Vijay Inder Singla, who was appointed chairperson of the Congress Election Management and Coordination Committee in the July reshuffle."I am a loyal soldier of the party, and at all times, as a worker of the party, whatever responsibility I have been given, I have always fulfilled my duties. And in the coming times as well, we will work together with everyone in the same manner," Singla had said earlier reacting to speculations that he could replace Warring.However that did not happen.And this is where the leadership change in Punjab Congress becomes more interesting.The Channi camp had openly demanded that the former CM should lead the party into the next elections. In fact, their contention all along was that Warring should be replaced by Channi. But today's announcement would leave them disappointed much like the other contenders including Singla.2022 rerun in PunjabWith the Congress picking up Pargat Singh as the compromise candidate, it is a rerun of what happened in the run up to the 2022 elections.And that brings Punjab Congress back to a very familiar problem of bitter power tussle between state leaders. A problem that played a key role in the party’s defeat in 2022.(function(){function e(){window.addEventListener(`message`,function(e){if(e.data[`datawrapper-height`]!==void 0){var t=document.querySelectorAll(`iframe`);for(var n in e.data[`datawrapper-height`])for(var r=0,i;i=t[r];r++)if(i.contentWindow===e.source){var a=e.data[`datawrapper-height`][n]+`px`;i.style.height=a}}})}e()})();Ahead of the 2022 assembly election, then chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu were locked in a bitter leadership battle. Sidhu wanted a bigger role in leading the party into the election, while Amarinder resisted attempts to cut into his authority.The Congress leadership allowed the dispute to drag on until the crisis became impossible to contain. Eventually, Amarinder Singh was removed as chief minister. Charanjit Singh Channi emerged as the compromise candidate of Congress high command and was made the chief minister.But the compromise did not end the factional war. Congress went into the election divided and suffered a historic defeat, with AAP sweeping into power.Four years later, the names have changed, but the problem looks strikingly similar.Srinivasaraju sees a larger pattern in Punjab Congress's repeated leadership tussles."Punjab Congress has not been able to resolve it at all. They've had five long years after Amarinder Singh’s exit and they have still not got it right," he said.His argument is that every time Congress begins to see a chance of returning to power in Punjab, competing factions become more active and start weakening the organisation from within."We have seen that with Navjot Singh Sidhu and Amarinder Singh," he said, adding that similar mistakes "seem to be getting repeated".Once again, both the rival leaders - Channi and Warring - are out. But the battle for Channi is still half won. And with Warring all set for a rebel role, the road ahead for the former Punjab chief minister may not be easy.With Warring’s loss not translating into Channi's gain, it will be interesting to see if the Congress's compromise candidate ends this leadership fight once and for all without starting another power tussle?Get the latest India News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.