The Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, Partap Singh Bajwa, who is opposed to Amrinder Singh Raja Warring continuing as the PPCC chief and has been staying away from meetings being held by senor Congress leaders, will be seen at tomorrow’s meeting of disgruntled leaders with AICC general secretary in-charge of Punjab affairs Bhupesh Baghel.The aggrieved leaders are meeting Baghel on the condition that Warring will not be part of the deliberations.Ever since Baghel landed in Chandigarh on Monday, Bajwa, after receiving the leader at the airport and hosting him at his residence, has been keeping away from meetings of the Warring and Channi camps. He also did not attend dinners hosted by supporters of Warring.Confirming that he would attend the meeting, Bajwa said, “I have been urging all party leaders to raise their issues on the party platform before Baghel as he represents the high command.”Tomorrow’s meeting will pave the way for the next meeting with the party’s top leadership, including Rahul Gandhi.Former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, in a message on X, said, “United for Punjab. We have been invited by Punjab Congress in-charge Bhupesh Baghel ji on July 11 to place before him the sentiments of our workers and the people of Punjab.”Asked about Baghel’s scheduled meeting with Channi and other leaders, Warring told reporters, “Bhupesh ji told me that he will meet Channi saheb alone. Everything will be smooth in the coming days… I don’t think I will go as the meeting may involve discussions against me… It will be better if they hold the meeting without me.”At the meeting, scheduled to be held at the Chandigarh residence of Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh, over 78 party leaders who contested the last Assembly elections were expected to participate. However, Baghel is learnt to have restricted the strength to around 50 and only five or six leaders will be allowed to speak, according to party insiders.The move is being seen as an effort to check the possibility of the meeting being turned by the disgruntled leaders into a show of strength and a mandate against Warring.“If 78 or more leaders were to be present at the meeting and were allowed to speak in front of Baghel, it could have translated into a clear mandate against Warring and might have turned around the situation in favour of the disgruntled leaders,” said a senior leader.


