Jignesh Mevani, Kanhaiya Kumar to join Congress next week

New Delhi, Sep 25: In a significant development, CPI leader and former JNU Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and independent Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani are likely to join Congress next week.

According to reports, Mevani and Kanhaiya expected to join Congress mostly on September 28 or October 2.

The development comes days after the Congress appointed Charanjit Singh Channi as the first Dalit-Sikh chief minister of Punjab.

Kanhaiya Kumar, who shot to fame with his stint as the president of JNU Students' Union in 2016, had sparked speculations of his political switch following his meeting with former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on September 16.

Mevani, a well-known Dalit face and MLA from Gujarat's Vadgam constituency, could be made a working president of Congress' state unit. Mevani's induction will be seen as a boos to Congress ahead of assembly elections scheduled next year.

Mevani had won election from the Vadgam Assembly constituency in Banaskantha district in 2017 with the backing of Congress.

"On September 28, I will be joining the Indian National Congress along with Kanhaiya Kumar," he told PTI, adding that he will be able to talk in detail about the decision only after that. Working president of Gujarat Congress Hardik Patel will also attend the function in Delhi where he will be inducted in the party in the presence of Rahul Gandhi, Mevani said.

"We welcome all the revolutionary youths who are willing to work for the development of the country and strengthen the Congress party and the ideals of (Mahatma) Gandhi, Sardar (Patel) and (Jawaharlal) Nehru," Hardik Patel said in a statement.

He described Mevani as "an old friend" and said his entry will help the party both in the state and at the national level. Chief spokesperson of Gujarat Congress Manish Doshi said Mevani became an MLA with the support of Congress workers in the 2017 elections, and his entry "will strengthen the party's fight against the corrupt policies of the BJP".

"Congress party welcomes everyone who fights against the corrupt policies of the BJP. The party policy is to ensure justice to everyone in Gujarat and fight against every such policy of the BJP which is anti-people, anti-youth, anti-farmer, anti-poor," Doshi said.