“Is it a crime to be a Hindu?” he asked me more than once, in the context of how, in the aftermath of Captain Amarinder Singh’s exit, Jakhar apparently had the support of the maximum number of party colleagues: 42, compared to two for the present chief minister (CM) Charanjit Singh Channi. He alleged that he was passed over because he is not a Sikh. “I am more Sikh than many Sikhs in the party,” he told me, saying the “spirit of Punjabiyat has been undermined.”

Blaming Congress veteran Ambika Soni for a veto that amounted to “political apartheid”, he declared that “active politics is over for me; I will not work with these people.” He guffawed when I asked him whether the Gandhi family made a grave error of judgment in bringing in an outsider such as Sidhu in a key leadership role. “Channi is an outsider too,” he said about Punjab’s first Dalit CM, who has been photographed riding pillion with Jakhar on a motorcycle in happier times. “He has undermined himself by insisting that he be declared chief ministerial candidate; what will he ask for next: An affidavit?”

Jakhar’s proclamations, of course, are hardly neutral. And whether or not Channi had the backing of his fellow legislators he has undoubtedly been the political discovery of the election season with his unruffled style and grassroots approach. In just a few months, he has built a well-liked personal brand among people. If the Congress does manage to hold its own in a fiercely contested election, where the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has run a much more cohesive and tightly controlled campaign, the credit should go to Channi.

But the unfiltered eruption by Jakhar captures precisely the implosion within the Punjab Congress and the inability of the party’s top leadership to contain its fallout.

Jakhar added, “These people who sit in Delhi; they have taken the sheen off Rahul Gandhi’s historic decisions.” But it is a mysterious refusal by the Gandhis to intervene with urgency that has created the mess.

Sulking in his corner, Sidhu is not even making a half-hearted attempt at being subtle.

With the announcement of a CM candidate by the Congress just hours away, Sidhu is ranting against “weak CMs who dance to the tunes of others”, in an obvious swipe at Channi. Previously he has hosted press conferences with posters of the Gandhis displayed prominently behind him, but with none of Channi. Within Congress circles in Punjab, there are bewildered whispers asking why Sidhu’s sulky resignation from the post of state Congress chief was not accepted in September.

But the status quoist instincts of the Congress leadership — do nothing until you have to — is reflected in all of its key decisions in Punjab. A chief ministerial candidate — Channi is a natural choice — will be declared by the Congress because Arvind Kejriwal’s campaign has left it no other choice. Still, it’s already only two weeks to go for the polls. In the meantime, the Congress has allowed the factionalism within the party to drift along, creating scepticism in the minds of its voters.

Jakhar, Sidhu and Channi were meant to be repurposed as the Amar-Akbar-Anthony troika along caste and religious lines — a Dalit, a Jat Sikh, a Punjabi Hindu. Instead, it has ended up being a Punjab-style gang warfare full of intrigue, coups, and frontal assaults.

It’s a great election for journalists in search of a good copy. It’s terrible news for a party already struggling to hold onto electoral power. More than Kejriwal, the Congress is fighting the Congress in Punjab.

Barkha Dutt is an award-winning journalist and author The views expressed are personal.