Five Congress MPs and leaders have decided to boycott Rahul Gandhi's rally in Punjab ahead of the state Assembly elections, in a blow for the party.
Manish Tewari, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Jasveer Singh Gill, Muhammad Sadiq, and Parneet Kaur are among the members of the delegation.
Rahul Gandhi, the Congress leader, is on a day-long visit to Punjab today, where he will visit holy sites alongside 117 other candidates in an apparent show of strength ahead of the Assembly elections next month.
On Thursday, Gandhi and party candidates for the Punjab assembly elections paid obeisance at the Golden Temple in New Delhi.
Gandhi said he prayed for the future of Punjab at Harmandir Sahib with the Congress candidates, according to a Hindi tweet.
Gandhi, along with the party candidates, ate 'langar' after offering prayers at the Golden Temple's sanctum sanctorum. Navjot Singh Sidhu, the party's state unit president and Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi flanked Gandhi.
Gandhi is expected to address a virtual gathering in Mithapur, Jalandhar, to kick off his election campaign in Punjab.
He is visiting the poll-bound state for the first time since the Election Commission of India announced the election dates on January 8.
On his arrival from Delhi, Gandhi was met by Channi, Sidhu, and deputy chief ministers Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and O P Soni at the Amritsar airport.
Later, Gandhi paid a visit to Jallianwala Bagh. He'll also pay a visit to the Durgiana Temple and the Bhagwan Valmiki Tirath Sthal while he's in town.
For the Punjab Assembly elections on February 20, Congress has named 109 candidates. Candidate names for eight seats have yet to be released. Gandhi will speak at the 'Punjab Fateh' virtual rally in Jalandhar's Mithapur in the afternoon before heading back to Delhi in the evening.
The ban on physical rallies and roadshows in five polling states, including Punjab, has been extended until January 31 by the Election Commission.
The Congress is campaigning in Punjab, which will hold elections on February 20.
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