Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to attend 'Jallikattu' event in Tamil Nadu today

Chennai, Jan 14: Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi will campaign for the upcoming assembly elections in Tamil Nadu from Madurai on Thursday. Rahul Gandhi will attend a bull-taming event "Jallikattu" on the day that the state celebrates Pongal.

Gandhi's visit has been claimed by the Congress as the "Rahulin Tamizh Vanakkam (Rahul's Tamil welcome)". The state is due for elections in April-May.

The Congress leader would lend his moral support to farmers protesting against the new farm laws across the country by witnessing the sport at Avaniapuram in Madurai district, the Congress's state president KS Alagiri said.

"The bull is a symbol of farmers and part of their lives," the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president said. His visit is to "honour the farmers and the valorous Tamil culture on the day of harvest festival and he will not engage in the election campaign on that day," he said.

"The general public should gather in large numbers for the event," Alagiri said, adding that Gandhi has no plans to visit the alliance party DMK's president MK Stalin or other leaders, he said.

The CM candidate of the Congress-DMK alliance will be MK Stalin, the TNCC chief said. Harmony prevailed in the DMK camp and it was absent in the AIADMK combine, he alleged.

Meanwhile, BJP slammed the Congress's double standards, and said that the Congress had been opposing Jallikattu till 2016 and vowed to ban the bull sport in their 2016 Tamil Nadu manifesto.

On Wednesday, Gandhi hit out at the central government saying that the death of 60 agitating farmers did not embarrass the Union government but the tractor rally, which was scheduled to be held by them on January 26 (Republic Day) would embarrass them.