5 min readChandigarh, New DelhiJun 17, 2026 02:43 AM IST
First published on: Jun 16, 2026 at 09:08 PM IST
With factionalism in its Punjab unit threatening to derail the party’s Assembly election preparation, the Congress high command on Tuesday began a massive exercise to set its divided house in order. The party has summoned as many as 66 leaders from Punjab to Delhi to gauge whether the state unit needs to be restructured before the polls early next year.
The exercise comes amid talk of the Assembly elections in Punjab being advanced. The BJP leadership has already directed its state units in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Goa to prepare for the possibility of Assembly elections being advanced by at least a month to avoid a scheduling clash with the Census enumeration exercise scheduled for February 2027.
The Congress has set up a three-member panel headed by AICC treasurer Ajay Maken to prepare a report on the current political scenario in Punjab, including factionalism, and the Assembly elections. A final report is expected to be submitted by Saturday and is likely to influence decisions on potential changes in the state Congress leadership and election strategy.
Sources said Maken, along with Meenakshi Natarajan and Bhajan Lal Jatav, on Tuesday met as many as 33 leaders, including CWC members Ambika Soni, Charanjit Singh Channi, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, and Vijay Inder Singla; former state Congress chiefs Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and Shamsher Singh Dhullo; and Congress Legislature Party leader Partap Singh Bajwa, besides MPs and MLAs, to hear their views on the way forward. The panel will meet former state ministers and district Congress presidents on Wednesday.
Asked what was discussed, Singla said, “I was asked about the issues the party should highlight in its election campaign. I listed the issues that the Congress can focus on to expose the AAP government.” The CWC member said he was not asked about “organisational issues”.
Another senior leader said he told the observers that there was a possibility of the elections being advanced and the high command would have to decide on leadership as early as possible. Sources said some of the leaders told the panel that the party should project a Jatt Sikh as CM face. The Congress does not have a tradition of projecting a CM face when it is in the Opposition. When in power, the CM automatically leads the party into elections. But the party departed from that tradition in 2017 when it projected Amarinder Singh as the face at the instance of political consultancy firm IPAC, which oversaw the party’s campaign efforts.
2021 rerun?
The Congress had set up a three-member panel — headed by current national president Mallikarjun Kharge — in 2021, too, to find ways to resolve factionalism and infighting in the party ahead of the 2022 Assembly polls in which the party was eventually routed.
While the tussle then was between Captain Amarinder Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu, the factional feud now primarily involves Channi, the former CM who had replaced Amarinder Singh months before the elections, and state Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring. Sources said a section of the party wants the high command to replace Warring with Channi. Sources said the high command was seeking the leaders’ views on leadership change as well. At a meeting in Delhi late last month, state unit leaders engaged in verbal duels, with Channi pointedly asking how the party could gear up for the Assembly polls when the AAP swept the civic polls in Warring’s home turf of Gidderbaha.
While the Congress fancies its chances of returning to power in Punjab, its underwhelming performance in the recent local body elections has triggered an alarm. Sources said the Maken committee had sought the views of the leaders on the formation of election-related panels and the need for balancing caste and regional equations.
(From left) Congress Working Committee member Charanjit Singh Channi, AICC treasurer Ajay Maken, Congress Legislature Party leader Partap Singh Bajwa. (Express Archive Photos) 
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