Goa, Nov. 4 -- The name of singer-songwriter Sidhu Moosewala, assassinated by the Lawrence Bishnoi gang in 2022 in Punjab's Mansa, took centre stage at a Congress rally in Sangrur, where Congress MP Rahul Gandhi formally launched the party's campaign for the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections. With Moosewala's father, Balkaur Singh Sidhu, on stage alongside him, Gandhi turned the rapper's killing into a pointed attack on the AAP government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, alleging a deliberate withdrawal of security that left the singer vulnerable to the gangsters.

Gandhi recounted his personal connection to Moosewala, recalling a meeting before the singer's entry into the Congress. He described seeing "a dynamic and talented young m...