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Punjab Congress leaders met Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and party high command at 10, Janpath, in New Delhi as the party gears up for the 2027 State Assembly elections.
Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly, Pratap Singh Bajwa; former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and CWC members Vijay Inder Singla, along with other party leaders, met Gandhi at her residence. While speaking to reporters, Bajwa said, "Today, Rahul Gandhi called five senior Congress leaders of Punjab. I had put forward my viewpoint, and whatever decision he takes, we will stand by it. We are committed soldiers of the Congress party. Whatever position he wants to give us or not, we will stand by Rahul ji and the Congress." The meeting came in the backdrop of a speculated change in the state party leadership. Ahead of the Assembly polls next year, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had appointed senior party leaders Ajay Maken, Meenakshi Natarajan and Bhajan Lal Jatav as All India Congress Committee (AICC) Observers to assess the political scenario in Punjab. In the last elections, Congress was reduced to 18 seats while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) formed the government, securing 92 constituencies. Congress would look to repeat its performance of the 2017 elections, where it won 77 seats and formed the government in the state. In the local body elections last month, AAP managed to sweep the majority of wards, leaving a few for Congress, BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal. Meanwhile, the BJP is also gearing up for the polls with party president Nitin Nabin's three-day visit to the state. He held a roadshow in Jalandhar and called for the lotus to bloom in Punjab. The political scenario in Punjab has changed compared to the last elections. While Congress has several leadership faces, the BJP is speculated to go solo in the polls, and AAP will attempt to retain power despite Raghav Chadha and fellow MPs merging with the BJP. While there were speculations of a possible revival of the BJP-SAD (Shiromani Akali Dal) alliance ahead of the 2027 Punjab assembly polls, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had said that his party will not accept the role of a "younger brother". Punjab BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon also said that the party will contest all 117 seats. (ANI)
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