Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi will attend the INDIA bloc rally at Ramlila Maidan against the ruling BJP on March 31, sources said on Friday.

Last week, senior leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Delhi unit of Congress announced that INDIA bloc will hold a “massive” rally at the Ramlila Maidan on 31st March for “the protection of democracy and democratic institutions, which are being crushed and subjugated by the BJP government at the Centre, through authoritarian methods”, in the wake of arrest of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in liquor policy case.

Besides Kharge and Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, president of Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar; Uddhav Thackeray, president of Shiv Sena (UBT); Farooq Abdullah, chief of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, will also be present, sources said.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren, former Bihar deputy chief minister and senior Rashtriya Janata Dal Tejashwi Yadav and Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brian are among the prominent leaders from Opposition who will attend the rally.

Meanwhile, sources informed that the Delhi police has granted permission for holding the rally at the Ramlila Maidan on Sunday.

Earlier, senior AAP leader and Delhi minister Gopal Rai said, “Whoever loves this country, should gather at Ramlila Maidan at 10 am on 31st March. We will raise our voice from there to end the authoritarianism of this country and collectively take this fight forward.”