Free power, ₹1,000 for women to stay if Congress wins Punjab: LoP Partap Singh Bajwa

Chandigarh. The Congress on Thursday tried to calm voters’ fears about losing AAP-era welfare schemes. Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa said homes would keep getting free electricity and women would get the promised monthly help even if the government changes. He was speaking at Chamkaur Sahib, where the party opened its 2027 campaign with Charanjit Singh Channi’s ‘Jawani Sambhal Yatra’.

Punjab Congress president Pargat Singh took aim at Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and accused him of giving in to his party leaders in Delhi. “Merely wearing a yellow turban does not make anyone Bhagat Singh. One has to live by his ideals, his principles and his spirit of sacrifice,” he said.

Punjab Congress in-charge Sachin Pilot flagged off the eight-day cycle yatra. It will cover about 625 km and pass through more than two dozen Assembly constituencies before ending in Khanna on November 19. Around 2,000 bicycles were given to participants. Before the launch, Channi paid obeisance at Gurdwara Sri Qatalgarh Sahib. The yatra is part of the party’s ‘Punjab Mangda Insaaf’ campaign and reaches Ludhiana on Friday.

Pargat Singh said the most urgent task was to save Punjab’s youth from drugs, gangsters, joblessness and a growing sense of insecurity. “Punjab wants answers and accountability for every injustice done to it, whether it is river waters, law and order, drugs or gangsterism,” he said. He promised that the yatra’s message would reach every village, town and home, and asked young people to join in large numbers.

He said the Congress fight was “ideological, not just political”. He spoke of secular values, equal respect for all faiths, Sikh identity, Punjabiat and communal harmony. He said law and order had worsened over the past five years and that a Congress government would bring in “an effective model” to deal with drugs and gangsters.

Pilot alleged that the people of Punjab had been deceived and that people from Delhi were running the state government. He called the black flags waved by some AAP workers along the route “a good omen”. He also said party tickets would go to workers who had put in the effort at the grassroots.

Bajwa asked party leaders to stay united, saying the high command would decide the leadership question at the right time.

Channi called the rally the start of a movement against the AAP government. He warned that his workers would resist any attempt to disrupt Congress events, adding that his party had never disturbed rival programmes.

AAP hit back the same day. Its Chamkaur Sahib constituency in-charge, Jasbir Singh Garhi, asked where the money for the 2,000 bicycles, which he alleged cost ₹1 crore, had come from. He also demanded that Channi make the purchase bills and tax details public. Channi did not respond immediately.

Signs of friction within the party remain. Former PPCC chief and Ludhiana MP Amarinder Singh Raja Warring is reported to be planning his own foot march in Ludhiana.

Also present were co-in-charges Ravinder Dalvi and Suraj Singh Thakur, MPs Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Amar Singh, former minister and MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh, and former minister Vijay Inder Singla.