Chandigarh: AICC General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal said on Monday, after chairing a day-long organisational review meeting at the Punjab Congress office, that Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will kick off the party's Punjab campaign with a massive 'Hisaab Maango' rally in Sangrur district on November 4.

"Meetings with DCC Presidents, senior leaders, contested candidates, and one-to-one meetings with leaders, MLAs, and MPs were held. We got input from all the leaders of Punjab. That is why I am very much confident now that Congress is going to form the government in Punjab in February 2027," Venugopal said — that is the party's own claim.

Attacking the state government, Venugopal alleged that five years of AAP rule have pushed Punjab into distress marked by rampant unemployment, a collapsed law-and-order machinery, and state patronage to the drug mafia. "Law and order has totally collapsed. The drug mafia is everywhere, and there is complete protection for the drug mafia," he said — these are Venugopal's allegations, not independently established findings.

Congress leader and Punjab in-charge Sachin Pilot said Rahul Gandhi will attend a major event in Sangrur on November 4 — Sangrur is Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's political stronghold, which Pilot described as effectively the AAP's "capital". Pilot said the party had formulated its strategy for the Panchayat, Block, Mandal, District and State levels, and, projecting unity, said the senior leadership had travelled together for a meal at Bajwa's residence on Monday.

Responding in Patiala the same day, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said opposition parties were targeting him out of fear of the widespread public backing for the AAP, and that leaders would naturally visit Sangrur as it is the AAP's core stronghold — that is Mann's own claim. He also said the Congress, the BJP and the Akali Dal direct all their attacks at his leadership instead of criticising one another.