Former JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar along withindependent Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani will join Congress on September 28,sources close to the CPI leader and Mevani have confirmed.
The Congress has decided to make it a high profileinduction with presence of senior leader Rahul Gandhi during the joining ofboth the leaders. The day coincides with the birth anniversary of ShaheedBhagat Singh.
While both the leaders have switched off their cellphones and only phones of those close to them are working.
Both the leaders had met Rahul Gandhi recently andsources say that talks have been finalised between these leaders and theCongress party. The Congress wants to rope in these two leaders ahead ofassembly polls and particularly Mevani before Gujarat polls for their oratoryand crowd pulling capabilities.
Mevani is an independent MLA in Gujarat and has wonelection with the support of the Congress. The trio of Alpesh Thakor, HardikPatel and Mevani was with the Congress in 2017 elections when Congress did putup a good show but could not win elections and now Congress wants to rope inMevani ahead of polls while Alpesh has joined the BJP.
Sources in the Congress say that he has been meetingRahul Gandhi in the past and the offer to join the party has been pending sincethe last Lok Sabha polls.
Sources also said that during the talks in the past,Kanhaiya Kumar had emphasised on having his own team to work in Bihar in orderto start a movement and then gradually take it to the national level.
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The Congress in Bihar in the recent Assembly polls wasalmost routed. It could manage to win just 19 seats out of 70 seats itcontested in alliance with the RJD and its performance was considered one ofthe reasons for the defeat of the grand alliance.