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Ahead of CPI leader and former JNU Students' Union President Kanhaiya Kumar's joining the Congress on Tuesday, posters welcoming Kumar into the Congress have been put up outside the party office in the national capital.
Sources close to Kanhaiya Kumar had earlier said that he and Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani will join the Congress in the presence of party leader Rahul Gandhi at the party's headquarters in New Delhi on Tuesday evening. Kumar is a former president of JNU and Mevani belongs to the Dalit community. Before joining the Congress, Kumar and Mevani are likely to go to Shaheedi Park at ITO here to garland the statue of Bhagat Singh, a day after the 114th birth anniversary of the freedom fighter. Rahul Gandhi is likely to be present with them at ITO. Youth Congress workers will be present in "large numbers" at the venue. Congress general secretary (organization) KC Venugopal and Gujarat Congress working president Hardik Patel are also likely to be present when Kumar and Mevani will join the Congress. The joining is taking place after some prominent Congress leaders left the party in recent months. While former Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev has joined the Trinamool Congres, former union minister Jitin Prasada is now with the BJP. Veteran Goa Congress leader Luizinho Faleiro resigned from the party on Monday. The resignation of youth leaders had caused some disquiet in the party and sections of the party feel that the induction of Kumar and Mevani will help send a positive message to the party rank and file. Kumar is a member of the CPI national executive, a top decision-making body of the party. Mevani is an independent MLA from the Vadgam constituency in Gujarat and convener of Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch (RDAM). In the 2017 Gujarat Assembly election, the Congress party did not field its candidate against Mevani in the Vadgam constituency. (ANI)
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