Amid the repeated efforts by the party high command to bring the dissenting Punjab Congress leaders on the table, AICC Punjab affairs in-charge Bhupesh Baghel will undertake an extensive tour of the state, beginning July 31.Baghel will hold district-level organisational meetings between July 31 and August 8 — a move being seen in party circles as a mobilisation effort in the wake of the 2027 Assembly elections. The three working presidents, Sukhwinder Singh Danny, Sangat Singh Gilzian and Dr Raj Kumar Verka, have also been roped in. Due to the internal dissent against the retaining of Amrinder Singh Raja Warring as the PCC chief, the election-related committee is yet to hold any constructive meet. The meeting convened by AICC general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal, held last week at Delhi, had remained inconclusive.Baghel, as part of the tour, will hold meetings in Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala, Sangrur, Bathinda, Muktsar, Fazilka, Moga, Ludhiana, Malerkotla, Nawanshahr and Ropar.A senior leader said Baghel would be largely focusing on Malwa, a region identified as weak by the party’s strategist Jattvibeil Kanugolu.A senior leader said Warring and the leaders opposed to him were holding parallel meetings, be it the protest over the peacefully protesting students at Jantar Mantar, lathicharge on safai sewaks at Barnala or the recent paper leak (pharmacy officers).At a protest being organised by the Punjab unit of the NSUI outside the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences tomorrow against the paper leak, former CM Charanjit Singh Channi, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Pargat Singh, Bharat Bhushan Ashu, and others are expected to participate. NSUI state head Ishpreeet Singh said all leaders had been invited to take part in the protest.


