On the last day of the party’s “Har Booth, Congress Mazboot” campaign in Punjab, tensions flared as leaders clashed to mark their presence on the stage in Malerkotla.Former MLA Jasbir Singh Khangura attempted to climb onto the stage when supporters of ex-minister Razia Sultana blocked his entry, leading to a confrontation.The situation quickly escalated from shoving to a scuffle between the two factions. For nearly five minutes, supporters of both sides traded blows in the presence of Pradesh Congress Committee chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and All-India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in-charge for Punjab Bhupesh Baghel.At last, police personnel used batons to disperse the warring factions. Later, Warring stepped down from the stage to calm the situation and deliver his address.This comes as the rift in the party has come to the fore in recent weeks following the reshuffle in the state unit.The party programmes under the campaign have witnessed sloganeering amid a tussle between the camps led by Warring and former CM Charanjit Singh Channi over the leadership of the state unit.Will rid state of sand mafia, says WarringAddressing the Malerkotla event, the state Congress chief said if the party came to power in the 2027 Assembly elections, legally sourced sand would be made available free of cost by setting it free from the mafia.He asked Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal about their 2022 pre-poll promise of generating Rs 30,000 crore from sand mining. He pointed out that AAP could merely generate Rs 300 crore from mining, while the mafia pocketed several thousand crores.Baghel said the Congress intended to contest the 2027 Assembly elections with a new strategy, and the first phase of the campaign focused on workers’ meetings across Malwa.He said GenZ had risen against the “dictatorship” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah after the crackdown on peacefully protesting students in Delhi.In Khanna, supporters of the Channi faction were stopped from raising slogans. A few of them were taken out of the venue.