CHANDIGARH: Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday arrived in Chandigarh to meet with Haryana Congress leaders and discuss ways to strengthen the party’s organization in the state.
He was welcomed at the airport by former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Haryana Congress in-charge B.K. Hariprasad, state president Udai Bhan, and Punjab Congress president Raja Warring.
Rahul Gandhi-who is also the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, held the first meeting with 18 senior Congress leaders at the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) office. As per the reports former Congress MP Ashok Tanwar, who had returned to Congress ahead of Assembly elections, has also been invited to a meeting with Rahul Gandhi, joining Haryana Congress leaders Udai Bhan, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Birender Singh, Dharampal Singh Malik, Balbir Pal Shah, Phool Chand Mullana, Kumari Selja, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Deepender Singh Hooda, Mahendra Pratap Singh, Capt. Ajay Singh Yadav, Cheten Chauhan, Chiranjeev Rao, Pradeep Narwal, Vineet Punia, Retd. Col Rohit Choudhary, and Sunil Panwar.
The party sources said that during the meeting the discussion focused on the reorganization of the party’s district units as the Haryana Congress was without district presidents for the past 11 years.
During the first meeting Gandhi emphasized the importance of unity within the party and urged leaders to avoid airing grievances in public. He also discussed strategies to strengthen the party ahead of the upcoming assembly elections.
This visit is seen as a significant step towards revitalizing the Congress party in Haryana as the visit is part of the party’s Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan (organisation-building campaign), is being seen as a crucial moment to revive the state unit that has been operating without district-level executives for over 11 years.
Two high-stakes meetings are scheduled: the first with top senior leaders of the state, and the second with all 21 AICC and 90 PCC observers. But all 37 Congress MLAs have not been officially invited for either meeting, though many are reportedly keen to interact with Rahul Gandhi. However, the party leaders claimed that Rahul Gandhi was unlikely to discuss the name of Leader of Opposition in the state assembly.