Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will launch his party’s poll campaign from January 3 for the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections, said sources on Sunday. The campaign will start from Moga, where Gandhi will address a public rally.
Sources also suggest that Congress is unlikely to announce a chief ministerial face for the Punjab elections and is likely to opt for collective leadership.
According to sources in the party, deliberations are going on to take a final call on this. It is a tough decision for the ruling Congress as the party made a change of guard in September by giving the command of the state to Charanjit Singh Channi, Punjab’s first Dalit chief minister.
However, the majority of state leaders believe that the party should choose collective leadership to balance the caste equations in the state.
Meanwhile, the Congress Screening Committee is expected to meet on Monday to finalise the 117 candidates for the Punjab Assembly polls.
Punjab elections for 117 Assembly seats will be held in 2022.
Back in the 2017 Punjab Assembly polls, Congress won an absolute majority in the state by winning 77 seats and ousted the SAD-BJP government after 10 years.
Aam Aadmi Party emerged as the second-largest party winning 20 seats in 117-member Punjab Legislative Assembly. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) could only manage to win 15 seats while the BJP secured 3 seats.
