As Congress suspends Navjot Kaur, she opens front against Warring: ‘not my president’

“I stand up for all my brothers and sisters who have been hurt by his incompetence and irresponsible behaviour. I refuse to accept him as a (party) president. I wonder why CM is shielding him,” she said in a post on X.

Continuing with her offensive, Kaur said warring has split the Punjab Congress “into pieces and is dancing to the tunes of Chief Minister (Bhagwant Mann) to save yourself from your arrest in numerous cases”.

The former Amritsar MLA, in another post said, she has forwarded to the “PMO, Punjab Governor, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra” the details of the cases against Warring.

“Raja Warring, if you had even a little bit of love for your mother party, you should have resigned the day you made stupid comments repeatedly and made your party lose in Tarn Taran where (Partap Singh) Bajwa ji, (Charanjit Singh) Channi ji , (Sukhjinder Singh) Randhawa ji, MP (Gurjit) Aujla and sincere party workers were struggling day and night to make Congress candidate win,” she said.

Earlier in the day, Kaur, speaking to a TV channel, said that Congress candidate for Tarn Taran bypoll Karanbir Singh Burj paid nearly Rs 10 crore to two state unit leaders for the party ticket.

Burj denied the allegation and dared Kaur to name her source of information. In a video statement, Burj said he had not paid a single rupee for the ticket and nor had anyone asked him to pay anything. “My name was in the list (for bypoll). I was asked if I was prepared to contest and I said yes. I am prepared to swear an oath to this effect in a gurdwara,” Burj said.

Meanwhile, Kaur levelled grave charges against senior Congress leaders saying they conspired with SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia to ensure her electoral defeat and that ward councillor tickets too had been sold in Amritsar city by the party.

She named Warring, Bajwa, Channi and Randhawa as chief ministerial post aspirants in the Punjab Congress.

Levelling allegations against Randhawa, Kaur claimed they he had sold tickets in Rajasthan and has links with gangsters.

When contacted by The Indian Express, Randhawa said he had links with Kaur’s husband too. “Sidhu is sitting silent while his wife is making wild allegations against senior Congress leaders. He should clarify whether he agrees with her comments and if she is giving words to his thoughts,” he said.

Randhawa called upon the Congress high command to take disciplinary action against her.

Earlier in the day, speaking to reporters at Parliament, Randhawa had termed Kaur’s remarks as unfortunate. “Navjot Sidhu joined the Congress from the BJP, and he was made a minister. They should tell how much was paid for Sidhu to become a minister. He was made the No. 2 minister. How much was paid?” Randhawa said.

“Then he was made the Punjab Congress Committee (PCC) president. They should reveal how much was paid then,” he added.

On Saturday, Kaur said her husband will return to active politics if the Congress declares him as the party’s chief ministerial face in Punjab but added that “we do not have Rs 500 crore which we can give to sit in chief minister’s chair”. Asked if anybody demanded money from them, she said nobody has demanded but the “one who gives a suitcase of Rs 500 crore, he becomes the CM”.

However, as a row erupted over her remarks, Kaur said, “I am shocked to see the twist given to a straight comment saying that the Congress never demanded anything from us. Asked about Navjot becoming a chief ministerial face from any other party, I said we have no money to offer for a CM’s post”.

Meanwhile, Union minister and BJP leader Ravneet Singh Bittu took a swipe at Congress saying the party “disintegrated before the ‘jharoo’ could disintegrate in Punjab.”

‘Jharoo’ (broom) is the election symbol of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

BJP’s national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla, in a post on X, said, “Dr Navjot Kaur has been suspended from the Congress. Rs 500 cr for CM post fallout. Fatwa issued & punished for speaking the truth and exposing Congress’ corruption.”

AAP leader and Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema dared the Congress leadership to respond to allegations of Kaur.