Jalandhar MP Charanjit Singh Channi chose to skip Rahul Gandhi’s speech in Lok Sabha on Wednesday and instead attended a rally in Faridkot.Out of the seven Congress MPs from Punjab, Channi was the only one absent when Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok sabha, made his speech in Parliament attacking the BJP over the recent police action against the student protesters at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.AdvertisementCongress sources informed that though there was no whip to attend Gandhi’s speech, Amritsar MP Gurjit Singh Aujla, who is the head of the Congress parliamentary group, sent a WhatsApp message to all MPs to be present in the House from 12 pm onwards. Gandhi made his speech a little later, at around 1 pm.Channi instead led a Congress dharna in Faridkot outside Baba Farid University over the controversy surrounding the Pharmacy Officer recruitment exam, wherein Punjab Police claimed to have busted a sophisticated inter-state cheating racket.The protest is learnt to have been organised by Congress’ former MLA Kushaldeep Singh ‘Kikki’ Dhillon who is supporting Channi in the battle to remove Amrinder Singh Raja Warring as PCC president. Several senior Congress leaders supporting Channi attended the protest. They included MLAs Rana Gurjit Singh (Kapurthala), Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa (Fatehgarh Churian) and Barindermeet Singh Pahra (Gurdaspur), former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, former MLAs Raminder Singh Awla, Karn Kaur Brar, Darshan Singh Brar, former MP Mohammad Sadique and several others.AdvertisementSpeaking to The Indian Express, a leader supporting Channi said too much should not be read into Channi not being present in Parliament during Gandhi’s speech. “The event was planned beforehand. Also, the issue of pharmacy exam leak is an important one on which Congress needs to keep a sharp attack on Aam Aadmi Party government. Raja Warring has not held any protest in Punjab. Instead whiling his time away sitting idle in Lok Sabha he should come to Punjab and lead protests like Channi,” the leader said.Incidentally, Warring along with fellow MPs Aujla, Amar Singh, and Dharamvira Gandhi, protested against the Punjab government in the Parliament complex alleging multiple paper leaks under AAP rule and demanding state Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains’ resignation.The Faridkot event, meanwhile, has once again highlighted ongoing factionalism within Punjab Congress. Leaders linked to Warring’s group, including district Congress president Navdeep Singh Babbu Brar, stayed away. The district unit had planned its own protest for July 31, which was later postponed after coordination with the state leadership.AICC general secretary in-charge for Punjab Bhupesh Baghel, meanwhile, will begin a 10-day tour of the state from Thursday, his second visit this month.Baghel will tour several Assembly constituencies, mainly in the Malwa region. He is scheduled to visit Fatehgarh Sahib, Mohali, Patiala, Sangrur, Barnala, Mansa, Bathinda, Muktsar, Fazilka, Ferozepur, Moga, Faridkot, Ludhiana, Malerkotla, Khanna, SBS Nagar and Rupnagar, according to party sources.During his visit, Baghel would hold meetings with the party’s district presidents and brainstorm with party workers.The focus would be on the expansion of the organisation and election preparations, besides readying a roadmap to further strengthen the party from booth to district levels, party sources said.A few days ago, the party had held a meeting in Delhi, where they discussed the poll strategy and the issues to be highlighted before the state’s voters.