Chandigarh: Punjab Congress’ internal discord has spilled into the open after former Deputy Chief Minister and Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa launched a sharp attack on Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
In an interview with a private television channel, Randhawa accused Raja Warring of sidelining senior leaders and publicly embarrassing them. He claimed that despite congratulating Warring on becoming state Congress chief, he never received a response.
“I have always treated Raja Warring like a younger brother and accepted him as my leader, but his behaviour on public platforms has often left me feeling insulted,” Randhawa said. He added that the Congress does not suffer from factionalism but from ideological differences, and urged the leadership to set aside personal egos to strengthen the party.
Referring to the recent police confrontation involving Partap Singh Bajwa in Qadian, Randhawa said Bajwa’s “ego and misunderstanding” led to the situation. He claimed that if Congress MLAs and workers from Gurdaspur had been mobilised, the police would not have acted the way they did.
Responding to allegations that he had compromised with BJP leaders, Randhawa denied any wrongdoing and said he had no fear of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Vigilance Bureau or the CBI. He clarified that his meetings with Union Home Minister Amit Shah were solely to submit reports on border security, cross-border drone activity, drugs and gangsters in Punjab.
The Congress MP also alleged that residents in border areas such as Dera Baba Nanak, Kalanaur and Dinanagar were facing threats from cross-border smuggling and extortion by gangsters. He said several local workers had received ransom calls from jailed criminals.
Launching a broadside against the Aam Aadmi Party government, Randhawa alleged that law and order in Punjab had deteriorated significantly. He accused the Bhagwant Mann government of failing to curb organised crime, claiming that extortion, robberies and gangster networks were operating freely from within prisons.
He further alleged that some police officials had links with gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria and accused the state government of shielding criminal elements. Randhawa also criticised the government’s handling of sacrilege cases, claiming investigations had been delayed and key legal steps had not been taken.
On national politics, Randhawa dismissed claims that the BJP could form a government in Punjab and criticised the Centre for focusing on symbolic projects instead of providing industrial packages, railway infrastructure and farm debt relief.
He also questioned the reported ban on Diljit Dosanjh’s film Punjab ’95 (also referred to as Satluj in the interview), calling it politically motivated. He argued that if other politically sensitive films had been allowed to release, there was no reason to block a film based on the life of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra.
The allegations and political claims made by Randhawa have drawn significant attention. The Congress leadership, Punjab government and other individuals named in his remarks had not publicly responded at the time of writing.
