Kanhaiya Kumar, Jignesh Mevani to join Congress today

New Delhi, Sep 28: Student activist Kanhaiya Kumar and Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani set to join the Congress party today, in the presence of Rahul Gandhi. Posters welcoming Kanhaiya Kumar have been put up outside the Congress office in Delhi ahead of his proposed joining.

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

Kanhaiya Kumar had shot to fame with his stint as the president of JNU Students' Union in 2016. He was jailed over "anti-national slogans" raised at an event in 2016 to mark the death anniversary of Parliament attack mastermind Afzal Guru.

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.