Who's to be blamed for Congress' defeat in Ludhiana?

New Delhi: Knives are out in the Punjab Congress following the by-poll defeat in Ludhiana West.

The Congress was expected to do well in the by-elections in view of the perceived anti-incumbency against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and its chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann. However, infighting and factionalism cost it dear.

Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu lost to AAP's Sanjeev Arora in a multi-cornered contest.

Soon after the results were out, Ashu announced his resignation from the post of the party's working president in Punjab.

Though the letter is yet to reach the office of the Congress general secretary in-charge of Punjab, Bhupesh Baghel, Ashu posted a screenshot of his WhatsApp message to the party general secretary in-charge of organisation KC Venugopal.

Right from the beginning of the campaign, the Congress visibly looked like a divided house. Ashu formed a core team, comprising former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Kapurthala legislator Rana Gurjeet Singh and Pargat Singh, to look after his campaigning.

He was so confident of his victory that he didn't seem it necessary to request state unit chief Amarinder Singh Raja (Warring) and leader of the opposition Partap Singh Bajwa to canvass for him.

In fact, Ashu had himself urged the Congress high command not to depute Warring and Bajwa to Ludhiana to campaign for him, insisting that he has serious differences with the two leaders.

It was at Baghel's insistence that Warring and Bajwa went to Ludhiana to address a press conference at the fag end of the campaigning.

Ashu cannot claim that he lost due to internal sabotage. In contrast to a divided Congress, a better campaign strategy by the AAP leadership helped Arora to bag the seat.

The Congress high command now has a tough task at hand - to find Warring's replacement amid intense factionalism. The Congress leadership will have to walk a tight rope in deciding the new team that will lead the party in the 2027 assembly elections.

Warring and another senior leader, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, have meanwhile reached Delhi to brief the central leadership about the possible reasons for the defeat. It remains to be seen if Congress be able to fix accountability for the loss, or else it will be business as usual.