Hans News Service Chandigarh

CongressMP from Jalandhar, Charanjit Singh Channi, was conspicuous by his absence when party leader Rahul Gandhi spoke in a debate in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, bringing to the fore the recent rift within the party’s state unit. Instead, the former Punjab chief minister was in Faridkot on Wednesday to take part in a protest to demand the resignation of the state’s health and education ministers over the alleged paper leak in the recent pharmacy officers’ recruitment examination.

Notably, after meeting Congress general secretary K C Venugopal in Delhi on July 16, Channi had said that “all is well”, asserting that he and the leaders in his camp would abide by whatever decision the party high command takes.

Yet, when Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, participated in the debate on The Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill-2026 on Wednesday, Channi was the only one among the seven Punjab Congress MPs who was absent. It is learnt that the Congress MP from Amritsar, Gurjit Singh Aujla, even sent a message to the state’s MPs to remain present in the House from 12 noon onwards on Wednesday.

The development comes at a time when the Congress’ Punjab unit recently witnessed an internal rift. The infighting was triggered after the Congress decided to retain Amrinder Singh Raja Warring as its Punjab unit president, while Channi was appointed the chairperson of its campaign committee.