Amid its ongoing mass mobilisation programme at the booth level in the run-up to the 2027 Assembly poll, Congress’s general secretary in-charge for Punjab Bhupesh Baghel on Monday (August 3, 2026) cautioned party workers to stay alert against “traitors within the party who could cause serious damage”.

Addressing the gathering in Bathinda, he said the next elections will not be fought by the candidates alone, but by the entire party’s rank and file, underlining the need for strengthening the organisation at the grassroots level.

Warning against the “traitors within”, he quoted senior party leader Rahul Gandhi, who he said often “warned against the sleeper cells of other parties within the Congress”. The event was disrupted after a section of party workers boycotted it and raised slogans in support of Mr. Channi. Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, though, hailed the raising of slogans in favour of Mr. Channi, saying “he was one of the senior and most respected leaders of the party”.

‘Remove AAP government’

Mr. Baghel said it was important to defeat and get rid of the Aam Aadmi Party government, which had not only pushed the State into anarchy, but had looted and robbed the State as well. He added that nobody was feeling safe in Punjab as “gangsters were running the roost and people were getting killed in broad daylight”.

The conspicuous absence of Mr. Channi, who is believed to be upset with the party’s revamp, from the event along with leaders from his ‘camp’, has triggered questions over the party’s internal cohesion.

Published - August 04, 2026 02:23 am IST