Factional differences within the Punjab Congress once again came to the fore during a party event held at Guru Nanak Bhawan here on Thursday, as tensions surfaced between supporters of the Charanjit Singh Channi-Bharat Bhushan Ashu camp and those aligned with Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring. A major scuffle was averted between supporters of Bharat Bhushan Ashu and Simarjit Bains.
Supporters of Ashu, including Sunny Bhalla, Pankaj Sharma Kaka, Inderjit Indi and Ishwarjot Cheema, occupied the front rows. As Raja Warring and other leaders reached the stage, Ashu supporters began raising slogans in support of Bharat Bhushan Ashu. The slogans did not go down well with supporters of Raja Warring, including the Bains brothers.
In response, slogans of “RSS workers bahar jao” were raised. Ashu supporters reportedly objected, saying it was unacceptable if such slogans were raised by the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president himself.
“Out of good faith, we all went to the venue. They gave the microphone to Simarjit Bains, and the moment he started speaking, Ashu supporters began raising slogans in favour of Ashu. They did not raise any slogans against Baghel or Warring. Instead of handling the situation, Warring himself started raising slogans, which was uncalled for. The workers of both groups lost their tempers, but we decided to walk out before the situation took an ugly turn,” said Ishwarjot Cheema, a close aide of Ashu.
The function lasted for around 40 minutes, during which the incident took place. Ashu supporters later expressed disappointment over the developments and conveyed their concerns to Bhupesh Baghel.
