New Delhi: Kanhaiya Kumar, a former student leader and independent Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani plan to join the Congress at a rally on October 2.
It's good news for Congress that Mr Mevani and Mr Kumar are expected to join the party ahead of the 2022 state elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Mr Kumar was previously President of Jawaharlal Nehru University's students' union and is now with the CPI is expected to bring a few other prominent Leftists with him when he joins the Congress party.
According to Congress sources, Mr Kumar has already met with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra twice in the last two weeks to discuss his future in the party. Mr Kumar contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election in his hometown of Begusarai, Bihar, but lost to BJP candidate Giriraj Singh.
Sources say Mr Mevani, a Dalit leader from Gujarat's Vadgam district, could be elevated to the position of Working President of the party's state unit. In any case, Mr Mevani's joining the Congress is further proof of the party's calculated approach ahead of next year's general elections, including in Punjab, where Dalits account for almost all of the population.
In addition, according to Congress insiders, a Jammu-based lawyer who successfully pursued justice in a horrific rape case against a minor is in discussions and, if all goes well, could join Mr Mevani and Mr Kumar.
Earlier today Jignesh Mevani praised Rahul Gandhi for the decision to appoint Charanjit Channi, who is the state's first-ever Dalit Sikh leader as Congress' new Punjab Chief Minister. According to Mr Mevani, the party's decision would have "a tremendous impact... on all subaltern masses." Mr Mevani praised Rahul Gandhi for the decision.