CHANDIGARH: With just ten days left for Haryana to go to polls, the star campaigners of all political parties are set to raise the campaigning tempo in the state.
While PM Narendra Modi is expected to address ten rallies in the state after returning from the United States, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi will address seven rallies and so will BSP chief Mayawati.
Modi’s rallies have been planned between October 4 and 13. He is expected to address one rally each from October 4 to 10 and three rallies across the state on October 11, say sources.
BJP chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Madhya Pradesh, Raman Singh of Chhattisgarh, Vasundhara Raje of Rajasthan, Manohar Parrikar of Goa and Anandiben Patel of Gujarat will also campaign in Haryana.
Party chief Amit Shah is already addressing rallies in the Jatland, as are a host of other top leaders, including Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani, Sushma Swaraj and former Army Chief and Union Minister V K Singh.
Hema Malini, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Uma Bharti, Ram Lal, J P Nadda, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Jagdish Mukhi, Anil Jain, Shahnawaz Hussain and Kailash Vijayvargiya will also campaign for the BJP.
However, Punjab CM Prakash Singh Badal and deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, BJP’s allies in Punjab, will be campaigning for Indian National Lok Dal as the Badal and Chautala families have old ties. Badal senior decided to do so despite opposition from the BJP.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi and VP Rahul Gandhi will address three and four rallies in the state, respectively. Former PM Dr Manmohan Singh is also among the party’s star campaigners besides Himachal Pradesh CM Virbhadra Singh, his Uttarakhand counterpart Harish Rawat and Lok Sabha MP and Former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi will campaign for Haryana Irrigation Minister Capt Ajay Yadav, who is a Congress candidate from Rewari. Lalu’s daughter Anushka, who is married to Yadav’s son, has also been canvassing for her father-in-law.
Leader of Opposition in Punjab and senior Punjab Congress leader, Sunil Jakhar, is campaigning for his cousin and Congress candidate Prahlad Singh Gillankhera in Fatehabad.
JD(U) President Sharad Yadav, whose wife is from Haryana, and former Bihar CM Nitish Kumar are likely to campaign for the Congress in the state.
BSP chief Mayawati will start a tour of Haryana from next week. Her party has only one MLA in the present state assembly from Jagdhari in Yamuna Nagar district. The BSP has announced former MP Arvind Sharma, a turn coat from the Congress, as its CM candidate in Haryana.
While for the Haryana Janhit Congress and Haryana Jan Chetna Party alliance, HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi, his wife Renuka and elder brother Chander Mohan and Venod Sharma of HJCP will be the star campaigners.