Tarn Taran bypoll: Why should Congress immediately sack its Punjab unit chief?

New Delhi: The Congress has convincingly lost the Tarn Taran by-election in Punjab, with ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Harmeet Singh Sandhu registering a comfortable victory over his rivals in the by-elections.

While Sukhwinder Kaur of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) came second, Mandeep Singh Khalsa of jailed lawmaker Amritpal Singh Sandhu’s ‘Waris Punjab De’ stood third. The Congress candidate, Karanbir Singh Burj, ended up in fourth position.

The utterances and inappropriate actions by Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring during the peak of the campaign visibly cost the party dear in the by-elections.

Starting with his derogatory remarks on former Union Home Minister and a prominent Dalit leader of the Congress, Warring’s disrespectful gesture of inappropriately touching the ‘jooda’ (traditional hair bun) of two Sikh boys caused widespread anger and resentment in Punjab and outside.

He also compared his party's candidate to a dog, saying that “while villagers even love dogs, they should vote for Burj, who is one of their own”.

This is not the first time that Warring has created controversies with his remarks or actions. In the past, too, his utterances had landed the Congress in trouble. Once, former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, then Leader of the Opposition, had to apologise in the assembly on his behalf after his remarks after the then Akali Dal legislator, Virsa Singh Valtoha, strongly objected to his utterances, creating a ruckus in the House.

Coming back to Tarn Taran, the AAP’s opponents might accuse the ruling party of misusing the official machinery, but that does not take the credit away from Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who has consistently strengthened his position within his party due to consecutive victories in all by-polls, except Barnala in November 2024, following the landslide win in 2022.

In fact, Warring, as the Punjab Congress president, even failed to ensure the victory of his wife, Amrita Warring, in the 2024 by-elections from Gidderbaha.

During his tenure, factionalism within the Congress has peaked with leaders frequently at each other’s throats. If this persists, the grand old party is certainly going to bear the brunt in the 2027 assembly elections.

It is high time the Congress leadership swings into action and sets its house in order in Punjab. It could start with replacing Warring with a credible face.