CHANDIGARH, October 26 (Aalimi Nation) – Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will launch the party's campaign in Punjab with a rally in Sangrur district on November 4, AICC General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal announced on Monday.
The Rahul Gandhi Punjab rally, billed as a "Hisaab Maango" public meeting, will mark the start of the party's campaign for the 2027 Assembly elections, Venugopal said after a day-long review meeting at the state party office in Chandigarh.
Venugopal said he met senior leaders, district Congress committee presidents and candidates who contested the last elections, along with the state party president, the leader of the Congress legislature party, and former and working presidents of the state unit. The meetings ran from morning to evening, and he said they were about election preparations and strengthening the party organisation.
He said the party had held similar preparatory exercises in Uttarakhand and Goa. Sachin Pilot, the Congress general secretary in charge of Punjab, said the entire party was united in its preparations. He described the November 4 gathering as a "Hisaab Maango" rally, a name that signals the party's intention to demand accountability from the government.
Venugopal criticised the Punjab government on law and order and drugs. He said law and order in the state had completely broken down and described recent firing incidents as "unfortunate". "Punjab is becoming the epicentre of the drug mafia," he said. He added that the government had lost control of policing.
Venugopal said the Congress was confident of forming the government in Punjab. The state government has not responded to his remarks in the material available so far.
Venugopal also addressed a political row involving Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. The BJP has announced protests across the country over a remark Kharge made at an event in Patna, and Union Minister Rajnath Singh has criticised the comment. Venugopal said Kharge's remarks were aimed at the RSS on ideological grounds and were not directed at anyone personally. Congress leaders have said no apology is due, and Kharge himself has not clarified the remark.
The Punjab announcement comes during a period of heavy campaigning by the Congress and its allies. The INDIA bloc has announced a symbolic "public impeachment" of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on October 30, to be followed by a rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on November 1. The opposition's campaign centres on its objections to the special intensive revision of electoral rolls, and it has demanded the Chief Election Commissioner's removal. The BJP has criticised the protests as an attempt to undermine democratic institutions.
The next milestone is the Sangrur rally on November 4, where Rahul Gandhi is expected to set out the party's case against the state government.
The Assembly elections in Punjab are due in 2027, and parties across the political spectrum have begun to prepare for the contest. How the Congress presents its message on law and order and drugs will be watched closely, as will the response from the state government and other parties once the campaign begins.
