Congress MP from Jalandhar, Charanjit Singh Channi, was conspicuous by his absence when party leader Rahul Gandhi spoke in a debate in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, bringing to the fore the recent rift within the party’s state unit.Instead, the former Punjab chief minister was in Faridkot on Wednesday to take part in a protest to demand the resignation of the state’s health and education ministers over the alleged paper leak in the recent pharmacy officers’ recruitment examination.Notably, after meeting Congress general secretary K C Venugopal in Delhi on July 16, Channi had said that “all is well”, asserting that he and the leaders in his camp would abide by whatever decision the party high command takes.Yet, when Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, participated in the debate on The Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill-2026 on Wednesday, Channi was the only one among the seven Punjab Congress MPs who was absent.It is learnt that the Congress MP from Amritsar, Gurjit Singh Aujla, even sent a message to the state’s MPs to remain present in the House from 12 noon onwards on Wednesday.The development comes at a time when the Congress’ Punjab unit recently witnessed an internal rift.The infighting was triggered after the Congress decided to retain Amrinder Singh Raja Warring as its Punjab unit president, while Channi was appointed the chairperson of its campaign committee.With Punjab set to go to polls early next year, a section of leaders led by Channi and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa opposed the move and sought the removal of Warring as the Punjab Congress chief.While Channi could not be contacted on Thursday, it is learnt that he was engaged in a protest on Wednesday against the alleged paper leak in the pharma exam, when Rahul Gandhi was delivering his speech in Parliament.The opposition parties have been turning up the heat on the AAP government in Punjab, alleging multiple examination paper leaks in the past four-and-a-half years following the detection of a cheating racket in the pharmacy officers’ recruitment exam recently.Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, however, has stood his ground, claiming that not even a single exam paper was leaked in the state during the AAP’s tenure.As voices of dissent grew louder within the Punjab Congress, the party’s in-charge for the state, Bhupesh Baghel, recently met the state leaders during his six-day visit to Punjab.Baghel is set to undertake another 10-day tour to Punjab starting Thursday as the Congress gears up for next year’s state polls.On July 1, the Congress appointed Channi as the chairperson of its campaign committee, while Randhawa was made the chairman of the core committee.Former minister Vijay Inder Singla was appointed the chairperson of the election management and coordination committee, while Fatehgarh Sahib MP Amar Singh was made the chairperson of the manifesto committee.