Ahead of joining Congress, Kanhaiya Kumar’s posters pop up at party office
Kanhaiya Kumar and Jignesh Mevani will join the Congress in the presence of party leader Rahul Gandhi at its headquarters in New Delhi on Tuesday evening, reports said.
Posters welcoming Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Kanhaiya Kumar into the Congress have come up outside the Congress party’s office ahead of his proposed joining on Tuesday. Kanhaiya Kumar and Gujarat legislator Jignesh Mevani are expected to join the party later in the day. News agency ANI reported citing people familiar with the developments that Kanhaiya Kumar and Mevani will join the Congress in the presence of party leader Rahul Gandhi at the party's headquarters in New Delhi on Tuesday evening. Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal and Gujarat Congress working president Hardik Patel are also likely to be present when Kumar and Mevani join the Congress.
“Yes, Kanhaiya and I are joining the Congress party in Delhi on September 28,” Mevani said last week after several rounds of meeting with Rahul Gandhi.
Also read | Unease in CPI amid reports of Kanhaiya joining Congress
Kanhaiya Kumar and Mevani, a Dalit leader, may go to Shaheedi Park at ITO in Delhi to garland the statue of Bhagat Singh, a day after the 114th birth anniversary of the freedom fighter, before joining the Congress. Rahul Gandhi is likely to be present with them at ITO along with a large number of Congress workers, the news agency reported.
ANI also reported that Kumar is likely to get a role in the Bihar unit of the Congress party and Mevani in Gujarat, which is scheduled to hold the assembly elections at the end of next year. The agency also cited people in the know of the matter saying that Kumar and Mevani could be part of a campaign to connect with the youth against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government.
Also read | Will Kanhaiya Kumar’s entry to Congress herald new start for party in Bihar?
Kanhaiya Kumar and Mevani will join the party after several senior Congress leaders left in recent months. Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev has joined the Trinamool Congres, and Jitin Prasada is now in the BJP. And on Monday, veteran Goa Congress leader Luizinho Faleiro resigned from the party.
Kanhaiya Kumar is a member of the CPI's national executive, a top decision-making body of the left party. Kumar joined the CPI ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election and unsuccessfully contested against Giriraj Singh of the BJP from Begusarai in Bihar.
A lawyer-activist and a former journalist, Mevani is an independent MLA from the Vadgam constituency in Gujarat and convener of the Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch (RDAM). In the 2017 Gujarat assembly election, the Congress party did not field its candidate against Mevani in the Vadgam constituency. Mevani will join the Congress days after the Congress party named a Dalit the chief minister of Punjab in a bid to woo back Scheduled Caste, traditionally considered the vote bank of the Congress. Charanjit Singh Channi took over from Amarinder Singh.
(With ANI inputs)
