Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa on Saturday strongly denied reports suggesting he walked out of a Friday’s meeting with the Congress high command in anger, asserting that he had sought permission to leave after presenting his views.Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi along party president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader KC Venugopal had yesterday interacted with five senior leaders Amrinder Raja Warring, Partap Bajwa, Charanjit Channi, Sukhjinder Randhawa and Vijay Inder Singla.Bajwa’s clarification came in the backdrop of talks about change of guard in the state unit. Being the seniormost leader, he along with other leaders are in contention for the top post.Addressing the speculation surrounding the closed-door meeting held in Delhi on Friday, Bajwa clarified that he was the first among senior leaders to be called to share his perspective on the Punjab situation.“A meeting was convened with four or five senior leaders, including four MPs. I was the first to be called to present my views. The meeting was chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal were present,” Bajwa said.“I spoke for about 15-20 minutes on the situation in Punjab, how the party should function, and the current political scenario. I therefore sought permission to leave and returned to Jalandhar the same night,” he added.Bajwa emphasised that claims of him storming out midway or leaving in anger were “completely baseless”. He pointed out that the official briefing was conducted later by the party’s general secretary.“As a loyal and disciplined Congress leader for nearly 50 years, I see no reason for such unnecessary speculation,” the senior Congress leader stated.Bajwa told the Tribune he had left for his constituency Qadian, as nominations for the local civic body are scheduled for Saturday.Party insiders said reports in media about heated arguments between Punjab leaders at the meeting was factually wrong.“After the one-to-one interaction, all leaders (barring Bajwa who had left) were called for joint interaction by Rahul Gandhi and Kharge. But no one except Rahul and Kharge spoke,” said one of the leaders.Bajwa’s clarification comes amid ongoing efforts by the Congress to regroup in Punjab following its poor performance in recent civic polls and with an eye on mounting a strong challenge to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in the next Assembly polls.Rahul categorically told Punjab leaders to take on the ruling party by chalking out an issue-based strategy. “The party leadership knows what to do of the leaders who do not want to work unitedly. Aspiring to become a CM is fine, but first one has to work to bring the party to power. We will give all support to any move to strengthen the party and run campaigns. Leave it to the party leadership to take state leadership decisions,” said a leader who did not wish to be quoted.