Sangrur: Congress is opening its Punjab campaign in the district that sends Bhagwant Mann to the assembly, and it is not hiding the point.
Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge reached Sangrur on Wednesday for the 'Insaaf Rally' at Phaguwala village, with both scheduled to meet families of victims of drug-related violence before addressing the gathering. State unit president Pargat Singh said the party is working to a target of one lakh people.
Sangrur is the chief minister's home district, and the choice of venue carries its own arithmetic. Malwa, the agrarian belt the district sits in, accounts for 69 assembly seats. The Congress was routed in the region in 2022 and has been trying to rebuild since.
Singh, speaking to reporters after inspecting the venue and the preparations on Tuesday, said the rally would raise issues concerning Punjab's rights, justice and future. The state, he said, is facing several major challenges.
"The Congress party has consistently stood by the people of Punjab and has continued to fight for the protection of their constitutional and democratic rights," he said. "The rally will provide an important platform to take the concerns and demands of Punjab's people to the national level."
The party's list of grievances for the day is a familiar one in the state: drug abuse, unemployment, the state's farmers, and law and order. Punjab's drug problem has been central to the state's politics for years, and the Congress is tying it to families rather than statistics by putting the victims' relatives in front of the cameras.
Punjab votes in 2027. The Aam Aadmi Party government under Mann has held the state since 2022, and the Congress has spent the years since fighting its own internal battles as much as the ruling party.
For Kharge, the visit is a signal that the central leadership is putting its weight behind the state unit. For Rahul Gandhi, Sangrur is the first stop on a tour that will have to answer a simple question from Punjab's voters: what does the Congress offer that the AAP has not delivered?
Party units across Malwa have been asked to bring people in for the day. Whether the crowd at Phaguwala converts into votes will be seen in the elections that follow.