Former India hockey captain and three-time Jalandhar Cantonment MLA Pargat Singh has been appointed president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), replacing Amarinder Singh Raja Warring.
The Congress announced the change on Friday as the party begins preparations for the Punjab Assembly elections expected early next year. Warring, who had led the state Congress since April 2022, met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi and submitted his resignation.
Congress general secretary and Punjab in-charge Sachin Pilot held consultations with senior state leaders before submitting his report to the party leadership. Pargat Singh, 61, was subsequently chosen to head the state unit.
Pargat, a Jat Sikh leader, was selected over former minister Vijay Inder Singla. His appointment comes amid differences among senior Punjab Congress leaders and discussions over the party's leadership structure ahead of the 2027 elections.
Several senior Congress leaders, including Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, Jalandhar MP and former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, and Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, are regarded as prominent figures within the state unit.
Pargat has largely maintained an independent position amid the different factions within the Punjab Congress. He has also frequently criticised the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab through Assembly interventions and public statements.
Pargat is a three-time MLA from Jalandhar Cantonment. He first won the seat in 2012 on a Shiromani Akali Dal ticket. After leaving the SAD and joining the Congress in 2016, he retained the constituency in the 2017 and 2022 Assembly elections on a Congress ticket.
His organisational responsibilities within the Congress increased in 2021 when then PPCC president Navjot Singh Sidhu appointed him general secretary (organisation). Later that year, Pargat joined the Charanjit Singh Channi cabinet and served as a minister from September 2021 until March 2022.
His political career followed a long and distinguished association with hockey. Born in Mithapur in Jalandhar, Pargat played for Punjab Police and Indian Railways before becoming one of India's leading hockey players.
He captained the Indian hockey team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, becoming the only player to captain India at two Olympic Games. In 1998, he was appointed India's national hockey coach.
Pargat also served as Punjab's director of sports, where he pushed for improvements in sports infrastructure, including the development of hockey turfs in villages.
For his contribution to Indian sport, he received the Arjuna Award in 1989 and the Padma Shri in 1998.
As the new PPCC president, Pargat now takes charge of the party's state organisation at a crucial stage ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections. His immediate responsibilities include strengthening the grassroots organisation, coordinating with senior leaders and addressing differences within the state unit.
Congratulating Pargat on his appointment, Sachin Pilot said he hoped the new PPCC president would strengthen the organisation and raise issues concerning the people of Punjab. Pilot also thanked Warring for his contribution during his tenure.
Senior Congress leaders, including Warring, Channi, Bajwa and Randhawa, welcomed Pargat's appointment and congratulated him on taking charge of the state unit.
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