Punjab: Rahul to launch Cong campaign from Mann’s home turf on 4 Nov

• Congress announces ‘Hisaab Maango’ rally in Sangrur on 4 November, with Rahul Gandhi set to address the gathering.

• Party leaders target Punjab's AAP government over law and order and the drug menace.

• Leadership changes seek to contain factionalism as Congress prepares for Assembly elections.

The Congress has sounded the poll bugle in Punjab, announcing a ‘Hisaab Maango’ rally in Sangrur on 4 November. Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi will address the gathering. Sangrur is considered chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s home turf.

Congress general-secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal announced the rally after chairing an organisational review meeting at the Punjab Congress office in Chandigarh.

Venugopal said the people of Punjab were looking for a complete change of government and launched a scathing attack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, alleging a collapse in law and order and claiming that the state had become an epicentre of the drug mafia.

“We need to eradicate all this evil. Our goal is to win back Punjab and save Punjab from these evil forces. The Congress party is very much confident that we are going to form the government in Punjab,” Venugopal said.

He also underlined Rahul Gandhi’s connect with the people of Punjab, particularly the younger generation. “Rahul Gandhi has a great connect with the people of Punjab. All over India, people are going along with his vision and ideas, especially youngsters and Gen Z. Punjabis are looking forward to November 4,” he added.

Punjab Congress in-charge Sachin Pilot said the rally would mark a united push by the party to challenge the AAP government.

“On 4 November, our leader Rahul Gandhi will address a massive ‘Hisaab Maango’ public rally in Sangrur district. Under his leadership, the Congress party will fight unitedly to rescue Punjab from the collapse of law and order and the drug menace,” Pilot said.

The announcement signals the Congress’s efforts to regain power in Punjab, where it is currently the principal Opposition party, having won 18 of the state’s 117 Assembly seats in 2022, a sharp decline from its tally of 77 in 2017. The AAP swept the 2022 polls, winning 92 seats and forming the government with a landslide majority.

The Congress’s last chief minister in Punjab was Charanjit Singh Channi, who took over from Amarinder Singh in September 2021 and remained in office until the 2022 Assembly elections. Channi, a Dalit leader, is currently the MP from Jalandhar.

Punjab has been a source of concern for the Congress, with persistent factionalism and infighting within its state unit undermining the party’s prospects.

The widening rift between rival factions has compounded its troubles, prompting the high command to change the state leadership in a bid to contain dissent and present a united front ahead of the Assembly elections.

In a recent organisational reshuffle, the Congress replaced Amrinder Singh Raja Warring with former India hockey captain Pargat Singh as Punjab Congress president, and Sachin Pilot with Bhupesh Baghel as the party’s state in-charge. The changes signal the high command’s attempt to overhaul the state leadership ahead of the Assembly elections.