Five Punjab Congress MPs were absent from Rahul Gandhi’s rally in Punjab’s Amritsar.

The delegation includes G23 leader Manish Tewari, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Jasveer Singh Gill, Muhammad Sadiq and Preneet Kaur, wife of former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh.

Jasbir Singh Gill told ANI that they had no problem in going.

“We came to know that the event was for the 117 candidates. Neither the PCC president nor the CM invited us, not even the general secretary in charge. Had we been invited, we would have definitely gone,” he said.

Tewari is one of the 23 Congress leaders to write to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi calling in 2020 for full-time and effective leadership and reforms within the party and an elected CWC and institution of a parliamentary board to run the organisation.

The letter sparked a row with Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera saying that the party leaders must not go public with the internal matters as it hurts the ground-level workers.

Last year in November, Tewari’s new book ‘10 Flash Points; 20 Years – National Security Situations That Impacted India’ sparked row.

In his book, Tewari had said that India should have acted against Pakistan after 26/11 when Congress-led UPA was in power.

Rahul Gandhi, who is on a day-long visit to Punjab for campaigning of the upcoming assembly polls, visited the Golden Temple in Amritsar on Thursday accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Following his visit to Golden Temple, Rahul Gandhi will pay obeisance at Durgiana Mandir and Bhagwan Valmiki Tirath Sthal along with all the 117 candidates.

He will then travel to Jalandhar by road where he would address the virtual rally “Navi Soch Nava Punjab” at White Diamond, Mithapur, Jalandhar.

Punjab will go to the assembly polls on February 20. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.