‘Channi Saheb Has Won’: Raja Warring Resigns As Punjab Congress Chief After Meeting Rahul Gandhi

Amarinder Singh Raja Warring resigned as Punjab Congress president on September 30 after months of open rivalry with former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s camp, and on Friday said the split had shaped his exit about six months before the 2027 Assembly elections.

Warring, the MP from Ludhiana who had led the state unit since April 2022, met Rahul Gandhi on Friday and later told PTI in Delhi that Sachin Pilot, the party’s state affairs in-charge, wanted him to step down. “Channi saheb has won,” Warring said. He also claimed, “Sachin ji wanted me to leave.”

Even so, Warring said no one had expressly asked him to resign. His remarks came before Jalandhar Cantonment MLA Pargat Singh was announced as his replacement.

Rahul Meeting Details

Warring described his meeting with Rahul Gandhi as wide-ranging. “A lot of personal and family matters were discussed with Rahul Gandhi, along with Punjab politics, and the discussions were positive,” Warring told PTI in Delhi.

He also made clear that he had seen the shift coming. “I knew what was happening. I have been in politics for a long time and I understand why and what is happening,” Warring said.

Asked whether internal party feedback had played a role, Warring said, “The internal feedback of the party has been there for four and a half years.” He added that Pilot “may have given new feedback to the party.”

Then he explained why he stepped aside. “When I felt that such a situation had come, I gave up my position,” Warring said. He also said no one expressly had asked him to resign.

Leadership Succession Battle

Pargat Singh was announced as Warring’s successor after the party considered several names for the post.

Pargat Singh is the Jalandhar Cantonment MLA and a former hockey captain. Former central minister Vijay Inder Singla had also emerged as a prominent contender. Singla heads the party’s election management committee and is seen as a Hindu face from the Bania community.

The other Jat Sikh names under consideration were Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Rana KP Singh and Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria. The party leadership then faced a choice: bring in a Hindu face in place of Warring, who is a Jat Sikh, or keep the state unit led by a Jat Sikh. Channi, who belongs to the Dalit community, heads the campaign committee.

Punjab Infighting Timeline

On July 1, the Congress high command announced that Warring would continue as Punjab Congress president, but Congress Legislature Party leader Partap Singh Bajwa did not agree with that decision.

Randhawa was seen backing Channi. On September 5, the party appointed Sachin Pilot as Punjab in-charge, replacing former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, who had held the post since early 2025 and was seen as partisan towards Warring.

On September 15, Channi and Warring appeared together on stage in Chandigarh at a Congress protest led by Pilot, and they were seen shaking hands. Bajwa said at the same event that the party would fight the elections without naming a chief ministerial face. Warring quit on September 30, and Pargat Singh took over two days later.

Election Stakes Ahead

Punjab’s next Assembly elections are due in early 2027. Congress is preparing for a contest against the Aam Aadmi Party government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

A potential alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiromani Akali Dal remains in the works. The Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De) of jailed MP Amritpal Singh is also in the fray.

Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to undertake a bus tour across Punjab to mark the start of the Congress campaign, and the party is keen to quell, or at least paper over, the fissures before that begins.