Congress appoints new party chief in Punjab: Who is Amrinder Singh ‘Raja Warring’ Brar?

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi late on Saturday night appointed Amrinder Singh Brar alias Raja Warring as Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president.

Brar has replaced Navjot Singh Sidhu. The party has also appointed former PPCC chief Pratap Singh Bajwa as the Congress Legislature Party leader.

Brar was among the 18 winning Congress candidates in the recently-held Punjab Assembly polls. The party was swept out of power by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

“The Congress President has appointed Amarinder Singh Brar (Raja Warring) as President and Bharat Bhushan Ashu as Working President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee,” the party said in a statement.

Who is Amrinder Singh Brar aka “Raja Warring”? Brar, 44, served as the transport minister in the Charanjit Singh Channi government.

The three-time Congress MLA has been a long-serving leader of the party. From December 2014 to May 2018, Warring was the president of Indian Youth Congress, the yough wing of the Congress party.

Warring has contested the assembly polls from Gidderbaha constituency in 2012, 2017 and 2022, winning all three times.

He also contested the 2019 general election from Bathinda against Harsimrat Kaur Badal, coming a close second with a 39.3 per cent vote share.

According to a report by The Tribune, Brar was brought up by his maternal family in Muktsar district’s Sotha village. For a long time, he went by the name of Raja Sotha, which he later changed to Raja Warring, after the name of his own village.

According to a report by Indian Express, Warring, who lost his parents at an early age, won praise from the close aides of top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections while working in Uttar Pradesh.

Warring fought the 2012 assembly election on party ticket against a former party heavyweight, Manpreet Singh Badal, who had floated People’s Party of Punjab ahead of the elections.

Even though Warring was not backed by former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh in his campaign from Gidderbaha seat, Rahul Gandhi himself campaigned for the debutant.

Brar managed to win the seat with a gap of almost 20,000 votes between him and Badal who stood third.

He repeated his success in 2017, however, he couldn’t save himself a seat in Amarinder Singh’s cabinet. Interestingly, Warring’s earlier rival, Manpreet Singh Badal, was given the finance minister portfolio after he merged his party with the Congress.

Before long, Warring was to receive his reward in the form of the transport minister portfolio. As Amarinder Singh was ousted by the party leadership and Channi was brought in to take charge, Warring was made transport minister.

After Bhagwant Mann took charge as Punjab chief minister and Congress was swept away in all five states, the party leadership asked the state chiefs to put in their papers.

The vacant seat in Punjab has now been filled by Amrinder Singh Brar ‘Raja Warring’. With inputs from agencies

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