Kanhaiya, Jignesh likely to join Cong on Oct 2: Sources

AICC sources said the duo was earlier scheduled to join on September 28 — on the birth anniversary of Bhagat Singh.

Mevani is a Dalit leader who represents Gujarat’s Vadgam constituency. He could be appointed a working president of the Gujarat Congress. Kanhaiya, former president of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) and now with the CPI, is expected to bring a few other Left leaders with him when he jumps to the Congress.

The move  underscores the Congress’ push to recruit young and dynamic faces ahead of State elections in 2022 and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

AICC sources said Kanhaiya has met former party chief Rahul Gandhi twice recently and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra once to discuss his future role in the party.

Kanhaiya had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election from his hometown of Begusarai in Bihar but lost to the BJP’s heavyweight politician Giriraj Singh.

Congress sources also said a Jammu-based lawyer who fought for justice in a horrific rape case involving a minor girl might also join the Congress along with Mevani and Kanhaiya.

Congress sources said while Mevani’s potential will be fully utilised in Gujarat which goes to polls a year later, Kanahiya services will be used in Hindi belt like Uttar Pradesh and Uttarkhand as both the States will go for Assembly polls early next year.

 Giving indications of his inclinations to join the grand old party, Mevani applauded Rahul and the party for appointing a Dalit as Chief Minister of Punjab, saying it would have a “tremendous impact on all subaltern masses”.

“The decision of appointing Charanjit Singh as the CM of Punjab is a message that Rahul and Congress have given. It will have a tremendous impact amongst not just Dalits but all the subaltern masses. For Dalits, the move is not just brilliant but soothing too,” Mevani said on the microblogging site.

 Earlier this month Mevani also ripped into the BJP after Vijay Rupani was asked to step down as Gujarat Chief Minister. “People of Gujarat would have appreciated had Rupani resigned for his monumental mismanagement of Covid crisis,” Mevani tweeted.

Courtesy : The Pioneer

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