New Delhi: As the Congress gets ready for the 2027 assembly elections, Rahul Gandhi is preparing for a bus journey through Punjab. The proposed 135-kilometre journey is expected to begin in Amritsar in the first week of September and could take him up to Hussainiwala. The exact date has not so far been fixed.
The 2027 election challenge
The tour is also expected to mark the early start of the party’s campaign for the 2027 assembly election. The party won 77 seats in the 2017 Assembly election but was reduced to 18 seats in 2022, when Channi was the chief minister and led the party’s campaign.
The Congress high command has backed the forme as state president and has said there is no plan to change the existing leadership structure. Baghel has also said that the party will not announce a chief ministerial candidate before the election. The proposed journey is being planned against the backdrop of differences among senior party leaders in the state ahead of the upcoming election. Punjab Congress President Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi are leading rival camps, with Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa aligned with the Channi side. Congress leaders have held several meetings to settle the differences, but the dispute is continuing. Punjab Congress in-charge Bhupesh Baghel met Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Delhi to discuss the proposed visit and the party’s preparations for the state elections. The Punjab unit has been asked to prepare a detailed plan for the tour. The journey is being planned as a way to bring senior state Congress leaders together and show party workers that the unit is working as one team. The Congress has three main objectives for the journey. It wants Rahul to bring senior leaders from rival groups together on the same platform, reconnect with party workers and get the organisation active ahead of the polls. The proposed journey follows months of internal tension in the Punjab unit. During the party’s ‘Har Booth, Congress Mazboot’ campaign, disagreements between rival groups became public at several programmes. Posters targeting Baghel and Warring appeared in different parts of the state, adding to the problems faced by the party leadership. The main dispute is between Warring and Channi. The Congress has tried meetings as a way to settle the dispute. Senior leaders, including AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal, have met the Punjab leaders separately and together. Baghel has also travelled across the state as part of the party’s organisational campaign. The Congress is looking to rebuild its position in Punjab after a major drop in its strength in the state assembly.
