Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday (April 28) took his fight against the contentious land acquisition bill to Punjab as he travelled by train to the grain bowl of the NDA-ruled state and met farmers to see their condition "with my own eyes". Dressed in a brown tee and jeans and sporting a stubble, the Congress Vice President reached Ambala in Haryana bordering Punjab this evening sitting in a general compartment of the Nanded-Amritsar Sachkhand express before he drove down to visit Sirhind grain market in Fategarh Sahib district. "I have been told that the situation is very bad. So I want to see it with my own eyes. "I am going to Punjab. I had also stated in my speech (in Parliament) that those who provide grains to the country, food to the country, from them their land is being snatched. This is wrong and we will counter it," Gandhi told reporters from his window seat earlier at the New Delhi Railway station from where he boarded the train. Congress leaders Jyotiraditya Scindia and Shakeel Ahmed, who is AICC in-charge of Punjab, accompanied Gandhi.

Asked to respond to the criticism that his visit to Punjab was a "drama" and was political, Gandhi shot back," What do they want to make everything non-political?" Gandhi also visited Khanna and Gobindgarh mandis where farmers are finding it difficult to sell their produce after the recent unseasonal rains. The three mandis which Gandhi visited today are the state's three main grain markets. He also heard the grievances of the protesting farmers at Khanna grain market which is considered one of Asia's largest grain markets. Gandhi said the land of the farmers is being forcibly acquired without any proper compensation being paid in order to benefit 2-3 industrialists whom he did not identify. The visit came at a time when farmers in the region have accused the government of tardy wheat procurement. The state has also been witnessed suicides by farmers. Punjab Congress leaders including state unit President Partap Singh Bajwa, for