Chandigarh, Oct 26 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will address a ‘Hisab Maango’ rally in Punjab’s Sangrur on November 4, launching the party’s campaign for the 2027 Assembly polls, party leaders K C Venugopal and Sachin Pilot told reporters on Monday.
Attacking the Bhagwant Mann government, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary (Organisation) Venugopal said the law and order situation is “completely broken” in Punjab, and it is becoming the epicentre of the drug mafia.
“Our goal is to win Punjab, save Punjab from all this evil. The Congress party is very much confident that we are going to form the government in Punjab,” said Venugopal, who arrived in Chandigarh on Sunday evening.
Venugopal held a series of meetings with senior Punjab Congress leaders, district unit presidents, and other leaders, and discussed preparations for the assembly polls and Rahul Gandhi’s Punjab visit.
“After these meetings and after getting feedback from all the leaders of our party from Punjab, I am very much confident that Congress is going to form its government in the state after polls are held,” Venugopal said.
“Our leader Gandhi is coming here on November 4. There will be a mammoth rally,” he said, adding he has a great connection with the people of Punjab.
“Now, all over India, people are completely going along with his vision and ideas, especially Gen-Z, youngsters. I think Punjabis are also looking forward to November 4,” he said.
Congress general secretary and party in-charge for Punjab, Sachin Pilot, said the party is united in election preparations. He also attacked the AAP government over the drug menace and law and order issues.
“Badlav (change) will definitely happen,” said Pilot, adding that the Congress is the only party exposing AAP and holding it accountable.
Pilot said all senior leaders of the Punjab unit had lunch together at Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa’s place. “All leaders had lunch at Bajwa’s place. I was driving the vehicle, and Venugopal ji was sitting at the front. It was Pargat’s car; Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Charanjit Singh Channi were also sitting there,” he said. The entire Congress team, with full strength and unity, has decided to save Punjab, Pilot added.
Congress recently appointed Pargat as Punjab Congress chief, replacing Ludhiana’s MP Warring after weeks of internal rift over state leadership that threatened to hurt the party’s campaign for the crucial assembly elections due early next year.
Amid a raging row over Mallikarjun Kharge’s “baap” remarks, allegedly against the prime minister, Venugopal told reporters that the Congress chief only referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ideological father, the RSS.
“This is an ideological attack he has done, not a personal attack,” he asserted, and lashed out at the BJP over the alleged “purification” ceremony a right-wing group held after Kharge addressed a gathering in Uttarakhand in August.
Kharge sparked controversy on Sunday with his statement, “Modi ka baap bhi jayega”, in response to an audience member who said the prime minister would not go anywhere. The incident occurred during an event in Patna, where the Congress president addressed a programme to mark the 139th birth anniversary of Bihar’s first chief minister, Shrikrishna Singh.
Responding to Kharge’s statement that the Congress would send those involved in alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to jail, someone in the audience shouted that as long as there was no rebellion, Modi would never go anywhere. Kharge retorted, saying, “Modi ka baap bhi jayega.” PTI CHS ASD
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