Chandigarh, Oct 26 Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Hisab Maango’ rally in Sangrur on November 4 will launch the Congress’s campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly polls, with KC Venugopal asserting on Monday that all party leaders will fight the elections unitedly.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary (Organisation) Venugopal held a series of meetings with senior Punjab Congress leaders, district unit presidents, MLAs, MPs and other leaders and discussed the preparations for the assembly polls and Gandhi’s Punjab visit.
Punjab Congress leaders presented a united front: Congress MPs Charanjit Singh Channi and Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa and Punjab Congress president sat together in a car. Congress general secretary and party’s in-charge for Punjab, Sachin Pilot, drove the vehicle, with Venugopal in the front seat. Pilot said the entire party is united for election preparations and all senior leaders of the Punjab unit had lunch together at Bajwa’s place.
“I was driving the vehicle, and Venugopal ji was sitting in the front. It was Bajwa’s car; Warring and Channi were also sitting along,” Pilot said. The entire Congress team will save Punjab, he said.
Replying to a question, Venugopal said the Congress is a democratic party. “There is no dictatorship. There is some difference of opinion, but during the elections, there is only one decision: we will fight together and win.”
“We are all together, and we will fight together. All leaders will set aside their differences. There is only one target, and that is to win elections in Punjab,” he said.
Congress recently appointed Bajwa as Punjab Congress chief after replacing Ludhiana MP Warring following weeks of internal fighting over state leadership that threatened to hurt the party’s campaign for the crucial assembly elections due early next year.
Attacking the Bhagwant Mann government, Venugopal said the law and order situation is “completely collapsed” in Punjab, and it has become 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.
He said our leader Rahul 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 Gandhi’s vision and ideas, especially Gen-Z, youngsters. I think Punjabis are also looking forward to November 4,” he said.
Responding to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s claim that the drug menace will be wiped out by December 2029, Venugopal called it the “biggest joke”.
“For the last 13 years, they have been ruling the country. Who is guarding Punjab’s border, and how are drugs getting in? Who are protecting gangsters in Punjab? Each child knows who is protecting and supporting gangsters,” he said.
Venugopal said protecting peace and communal harmony in Punjab was a priority for the Congress. He alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had pushed the state to the brink of ruin over nearly five years. He alleged that law and order had deteriorated, drug trafficking networks were spreading, and unemployment remained a major challenge for the youth. He claimed that political patronage for drug traffickers and the inaction of the police and administration had weakened public confidence.
Venugopal said the Congress would fight resolutely to pull Punjab out of this crisis and put the state back on the path of progress.
Pilot said the entire party is united for 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.
Amid a raging row over Mallikarjun Kharge’s “baap” remarks against the prime minister, Venugopal told reporters that the Congress chief referred only to 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 conducted by a right-wing group 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.”
Bajwa said all Congress leaders and workers are united to save Punjab and protect the state’s interests. He said the AAP government’s “anti-people policies and failures” would be exposed to the public.
The AAP came to power in 2022 after winning 92 out of 117 assembly segments in Punjab. In 2021, just months before the assembly polls, the Congress unceremoniously removed Amarinder Singh as chief minister amid a prolonged tussle with party leader Navjot Singh Sidhu. Later, the party picked Charanjit Singh Channi for the chief minister post. He lost the election from both the seats that he contested from: Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur.
(PTI News)
