Punjab Election 2022: Rahul Gandhi to kickstart Congress’ poll campaign from Moga on January 3

By Team Newsable | First Published Dec 27, 2021, 8:54 AM IST

According to sources, the Congress is unlikely to announce a chief ministerial face for the Punjab elections and is likely to opt for collective leadership.

Congress party is gearing up to jump into the electoral battlefield with a mega rally to be addressed by AICC leader Rahul Gandhi in Moga district on January 3 for forthcoming Punjab Assembly polls next year. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) have kickstarted their campaigns from the political “hotbed”.

According to sources, the Congress is unlikely to announce a chief ministerial face for the Punjab elections and is likely to opt for collective leadership. Sources also suggest that deliberations are going on in the party 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.

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However, the majority of state leaders believe that the party should choose collective leadership to balance the caste equations in the state.

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Cabinet Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu was quoted by The Indian Express saying that the rally is tentatively scheduled for January 3. “Since Moga district is the center point of Punjab, a campaign will be started from here. The village Killi Chahlan has a locational advantage. It is easily approachable from Majha, Malwa and Doaba so we will be holding the first rally in this village,” he said.

Over the past few years, Moga has emerged as an important political nerve center in Punjab’s politics. Not just the Akali Dal, which has held its major rallies and conferences at Moga, but the Congress party and AAP have also preferred to start their political campaign from this place — a centrally located Malwa district in the heart of Punjab. Moreover, Moga has also been a breeding ground of farmers’ and farm unions’ activities.

Punjab Assembly polls will be held in 2022. 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 the 117-member Punjab Legislative Assembly. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) could only manage to win 15 seats while the BJP secured 3 seats.

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