‘A dyed in wool third generation Congressman': Warring re-inducts Phillaur MLA Vikramjit Chaudhary into party
A little over a year after Phillaur MLA Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary was suspended from the Congress over 'indiscipline' and 'anti-party activities', state party chief and Ludhiana Lok Sabha MP Amrinder Singh Raja Warring revoked his suspension and re-inducted him into the party during the 'Samwidhan Bachao' (Save the Constitution) rally in Dakha on Monday.
The son of late Santok Singh Chaudhary — a veteran Congress leader and former Jalandhar Lok Sabha MP — Vikramjit was suspended from Congress in a run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections after he had objected to the Lok Sabha candidature of Charanjit Singh Channi from Jalandhar. Chaudhary instead wanted the ticket for his mother Karamjit Kaur, who had also contested the 2023 bypoll but lost to the then AAP's Sushil Kumar Rinku. After the party fielded Channi from Jalandhar in 2024, Chaudhary had rebelled and called Channi 'Shakuni Mama', referring to the Mahabharata.
Addressing the Monday rally, Warring along with senior Congress leader and Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa welcomed Chaudhary back to the party.
'We are glad that our colleague and the Phillaur MLA is back with us. He is a dyed in wool third generation Congressman,' Warring said. 'His homecoming will definitely strengthen the party. United we stand, stronger and stronger.'
This came just a day after Punjab Congress's working president and Ludhiana West bypoll candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu, and Channi and Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh made Kamaljit Singh Karwal rejoin the party on Sunday. Notably, during Karwal's joining, Warring and Randhawa were missing from the event in Ludhiana.
Karwal had left Congress following the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections, after losing on Congress ticket from Ludhiana's Atam Nagar seat. He later joined BJP and AAP, before returning to Congress on Sunday. Last year however, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, when Warring contested from Ludhiana and won the seat, Karwal's bete noire — former MLA Simarjeet Singh Bains and his elder brother Balwinder Singh Bains — had also joined Congress in Warring's presence, as well as merged their Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) with Congress.
After Karwal rejoined Congress, Bains expressed his displeasure and said the 'party protocol was not followed in his joining, as the state chief (Warring) was absent from the event'. Warring also expressed dissatisfaction over Karwal's re-induction into the party by Ashu and his supporters, saying he has flagged this to Congress General Secretary Bhupesh Baghel. Ashu has, however, hit back, saying he is the working president of Punjab Congress and re-inducted Karwal into the party 'only after taking Baghel's permission'.
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