The Congress high command has delayed action against Punjab party leaders fearing that they might defect to the BJP, said sources as infighting in the party once again came out in the open in the past two days.The Congress events in Patiala, Sangrur and Barnala have witnessed sloganeering in favour of former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi.His supporters want the party to name him as the chief ministerial candidate ahead of the Assembly poll early next year. The rift in the Congress had come out in the open once again in recent weeks after the party high command retained Amrinder Singh Raja Warring as the state unit chief.Parallel programmesDissenting leaders led by Channi, Sukhjinder Randhawa and Bharat Bhushan Ashu have abstained from party programmes and organising parallel events.After holding a protest at Faridkot against the lathicharge on sanitation workers at Barnala, Channi and other leaders are going to Ferozepur tomorrow to honour the party leaders who recently won in the Ferozepur municipal polls.A senior leader said there was more to the repeated pattern of raising pro-Channi slogans at different events.‘Damaging for Channi camp’“It will only damage the Channi camp that has been asked to lie low for a few days. Setting a narrative that the Congress is a divided house, especially when the monsoon session of the state Assembly is beginning tomorrow, suits AAP and the BJP,” said a leader.Meanwhile, several senior party leaders voiced concern about the internal party feud. “With Assembly elections round the corner, the situation is very volatile. The Delhi leadership is apprehensive of the BJP trying to poach our strong candidates,” said a former Cabinet minister.‘Weed out sleeper cell’Former state Congress chief Shamsher Singh Dullo claimed that action by central agencies against certain Congress and Akali leaders had been “put on hold”.Dullo said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had been claiming to have the evidence of wrongdoing, but no action had been taken so far. “The sleeper cell in the Congress needed to be weeded out,” he said.