Infighting in the Congress came out in the open on Friday as Pradesh Congress Committee president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and leaders of his camp abstained from taking part in a rally held to commemorate the occasion of Rakhar Punya Mela here.Former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and his associates, including former deputy CM Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and MLA Rana Gurjit Singh, attended the event, which was organised by former MLA from Baba Bakala, Santokh Singh Bhalaipur.Other prominent Congress leaders from the region, including Amritsar MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla, former deputy Chief Minister OP Soni, former MP Jasbir Singh Gill Dimpa and Partap Singh, were conspicuous by their absence.Former Deputy Chief Minister and MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, without naming any leader from his party, said his party did not require leaders who compromised with the ruling dispensation.He asked party workers “what should be done with those leaders who do not attend the event”. Then, gesturing towards the leaders present on the stage, he referred to them as the “real Congress”.Challenging Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Randhawa said he should declare that the waters of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal and Chandigarh belonged to Punjab. He also sought the release of Sikh prisoners who had completed their sentences.Congress leaders present at the rally projected Channi as the party’s CM face and recalled the works done by the Congress government under him.Channi, in his address, did not utter any word regarding dissidence in the party. Targeting Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, he said during his tenure the CM house had become a den of corruption. He said bribe in crores were allegedly sought for suppressing a case of rape, sand mining mafia also paid through the same route. He added that CM Mann had not obeyed to the instructions of the Akal Takht.He said the fight was not about any individual, but about protecting Punjab’s future from drugs, gangsters and a system that has failed the people.