Chandigarh, October 20: The Punjab Congress is gearing up for a major organisational shake-up, with the list of new district presidents likely to be announced within days. The appointments, finalised through the Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan, mark the first large-scale revamp of the party’s state structure ahead of the 2027 elections.
Sources said All India Congress Committee (AICC) co-incharge for Punjab Ravinder Dalvi held detailed discussions with general secretary KC Venugopal on Saturday to finalise the names. The leadership reportedly stressed maintaining caste and regional balance while picking “neutral and ideology-driven” district heads.
The new structure is expected to include at least five Hindu, five OBC, and seven Dalit leaders. Ten of the existing district chiefs are likely to be retained, while the remaining will be replaced by new appointees.
“The selection process was transparent and merit-based,” state party chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said, adding that the party aimed to strengthen its grassroots network across Punjab.
The reorganisation, party leaders say, is expected to help the Congress regain lost ground in Assembly segments where the party lacks strong faces — including Banga, Kharar, Batala, Attari, Nihal Singh Wala, and Dirba.
The next step, sources added, will be a complete overhaul of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), pending since 2022. The changes follow the resignation of three state working presidents — Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Pargat Singh, and Kushaldeep Dhillon — after the Ludhiana (West) bypoll defeat in June.
Ashu’s loss to AAP’s Sanjeev Arora, now a minister, had intensified factionalism in the state unit. Leaders close to Warring had stayed away from most of the campaign, exposing internal rifts that the upcoming restructuring now seeks to address.
