To give the much-needed boost to the ruling Congress party ahead of the February 20 polls, Congress’ vice-president Rahul Gandhi will visit Punjab on Thursday, and virtually address “Punjab Fateh Rally” on January 27 from Jalandhar.
Rahul Gandhi, accompanied by all the 117 party nominees, will start his tour by paying obeisance at the Golden Temple in Amritsar in the morning, and partake langar with all the party candidates. After that, they will also visit Durgiana Temple and Bhagwan Valmiki Tirath Sthal at Ram Tirath.
This will be Rahul Gandhi’s first visit to the poll-bound state. Earlier, Rahul was scheduled to launch the party’s poll campaign with a public meeting at Moga on January 3.
The party’s state unit was also gearing up for the mega event, which was cancelled later on as Rahul went to Italy on a personal visit.
As of now, the Congress has announced its candidates for 86 of the 117 assembly seats in the state. The names of candidates for the remaining 31 seats, which have got delayed due to lack of consensus among the state leaders on half of them, are expected to be announced by Wednesday.
That is also evident from the itinerary of Rahul Gandhi’s visit which says that all the 117 party nominees will accompany the Gandhi scion during his visit to the Golden Temple.
With the filing of nominations already in the process, Rahul Gandhi will officially sound the poll bugle for the Congress and his visit is expected to give the much-needed push to the party’s campaign in the state, especially in Jalandhar and Majha region — from where BJP is eyeing to gain major seats.
Amidst the Election Commission’s ban on physical rallies and roadshows till January 31, Rahul would be holding a virtual rally on January 27 at 4 pm.
For the same, part from the state party unit, the Congress candidates are also preparing for live telecast of the digital rally in their respective constituencies.
As of now, marred by severe infighting, the ruling Congress is fighting a battle of survival in Punjab — all set to witness a five-cornered contest for the first time in the recallable past.
As per the itinerary shared by Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Navjot Singh Sidhu over his social media handles, Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to reach the holy city by air from New Delhi at 9 am, from where he will first go to the Golden Temple and spend around 45 minutes there.
He will then go to Durgiana Temple and visit Ram Tirath.
After reaching Jalandhar by road, Rahul Gandhi will address ‘Punjab Fateh virtual rally’, which will be telecasted live on all social media platforms.
The state unit and its social media cell are making arrangements with two-way link in all 22 districts for the party workers and leaders to view his address. Later, he will fly back to New Delhi in the evening from the nearby Adampur airport.
