New Delhi, 31 October (H.S.): The Congress will formally launch its campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with a rally in Sangrur on November 4, former Punjab Chief Minister and Congress MP Charanjit Singh Channi has said. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will also participate in the rally.

Reacting to the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) release of its first list of 40 candidates for the Punjab Assembly elections, Channi said the party had merely repeated the names of its existing candidates and that there was nothing new in the announcement.

Channi made these remarks while speaking to reporters in Delhi on Saturday, ahead of his participation in a mock Parliament organised by the opposition INDIA bloc. He reiterated that the Congress would kick off its election campaign from Sangrur on November 4, with Rahul Gandhi attending the rally.

Commenting on AAP’s first list of candidates, Channi said the party had repeated the names of its existing candidates, adding that the announcement contained nothing new.

The Congress is preparing to organise an ‘Insaaf Rally’ in Sangrur on November 4. Punjab Congress president Pargat Singh recently said that Rahul Gandhi would address the gathering. Through the rally, the Congress plans to raise issues concerning law and order, drug abuse, unemployment, paddy procurement, sacrilege cases and the rights of the state.

Meanwhile, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi held a meeting with senior Punjab party leaders at the Congress headquarters in Delhi on Saturday. Besides Channi, those who attended included Punjab Congress president Pargat Singh, Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, among others.

The meeting focused on preparations for the 2027 Assembly elections and the party’s strategy for the state.

Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday released its first list of 40 candidates for the Punjab Assembly elections. The party has nominated Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann from Dhuri, Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan from Kotkapura and minister Sanjeev Arora from Ludhiana West.

The Punjab Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in 2027.

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar