Amid strong buzz over former Sangrur MP Vijay Inder Singla emerging as the Congress high command’s top choice for the PCC chief’s post, certain Punjab leaders have expressed reservations over the move.Speaking on condition of anonymity, these leaders said they had raised the issue with party president Mallikarjun Kharge, who is believed to be favouring Singla. They said the BJP had recently appointed Kewal Singh Dhillon as its state head. However, senior party leaders feel that AAP, which had appointed Aman Arora as its Punjab chief, was focusing on the Hindu vote bank in a major way.Party insiders said the high command was wary of starting another bout of infighting among Jat leaders, as replacing Warring (a Jat Sikh) with another Jat Sikh would only add to the friction.“The party has made it clear that being the PCC chief does not mean being the automatic contender for the CM post. Everyone will have to perform in their areas of influence to bring a maximum number of seats before the top brass decides on the CM face in the event of the party winning the 2027 Assembly poll,” said a senior AICC leader.Sources said while the replacement message was conveyed to Warring, the top brass took the leaders of former CM Charanjit Singh Channi’s camp into confidence.During the initial rejig, following the appointment of a three-member panel of observers comprising Ajay Maken, Meenakshi Natarajan and Bhajan Lal Jatav, the high command had proposed replacing Warring with Singla in June. However, the Channi camp reportedly opposed the move, leading to Warring’s retention on July 1.Now, leaders in the Channi camp have reportedly agreed to Singla’s appointment, as it would balance the Jat Sikh, Hindu and Dalit Sikh faces in the party’s social engineering. “Partap Bajwa, being the Jat Sikh face, is the leader of the opposition; the Hindu face is being made party president, and Charanjit Channi, a Dalit Sikh face, is being retained as the campaign committee chief,” said an aide of Channi.Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Channi told mediapersons that changing the PCC chief was the prerogative of the party high command.Not aware of moveAsked about being the frontrunner for the PCC chief’s post, Singla said, “I am not aware. I am a loyal soldier of the party. Whenever the high command has given me responsibility to work in another state, I have gone there and worked for the party…”The party’s Hindu face, Singla, is serving as the party’s joint treasurer, being in charge of assets and properties for the All-India Congress Committee (AICC), and is a member of the Congress Working Committee. A traditional Congressman, he comes from a political family—his father, Sant Ram Singla, was a former Congress MP from Patiala—and entered politics through the Youth Congress in the early 2000s