Punjab Congress Chief Warring eyes electoral face-off with CM Bhagwant Mann
Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring has said that if he were to contest the assembly polls due early next year, it should be against Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
Speaking at a Congress event in Faridkot on Wednesday, Warring dismissed a party leader's suggestion that he should take on Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal.
"The Akali leader is already lying low," he said.
Warring, the Ludhiana MP, said the party high command would decide who contests and from where, but if it asks him to enter the fray, he would like to face the chief minister.
"I will fight (against Mann), and he will come to know," said Warring, who had earlier represented the Gidderbaha seat in Muktsar district.
Mann currently represents the Dhuri assembly segment in Sangrur district.
Warring's remarks come at a time when a section of party leaders, led by former chief minister and sitting Jalandhar MP Charanjit Singh Channi, has opposed the high command's decision to retain him as the Punjab Congress president and sought his removal.
Punjab Congress has been struggling with factionalism, despite repeated assertions by the party leadership that efforts are underway to strengthen organisational unity ahead of the 2027 Punjab elections.
The infighting came to the fore when the Congress leadership on July 1 announced its decision to retain Warring as the state unit chief and appoint Channi as the chairperson of its campaign committee.
In a separate event on Wednesday -- the 'Har Booth, Congress Mazboot' programme in Moga -- Warring called upon people to uproot the Mann government.
Mann has proved to be the worst-ever chief minister Punjab has ever had, he said.
Referring to the alleged "deteriorating law and order situation" in the state, Warring said that "gangster culture was at its extreme, lawlessness was at its extreme and drugs were at the extreme worst".
He also condemned the Mann government over alleged "misuse of police force to brutalise peaceful protesters such as teachers, MGNREGA workers, safai karamcharis, farmers and government employees".
