SRINAGAR: The BJP has listed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath among 40 star campaigners for the Lok Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
BJP’s national general secretary Arun Singh has submitted the list of 40 star campaigners to J&K’s chief electoral officer (CEO) PK Pole. Polling for the five Lok Sabha seats in J&K will be held in five phases.
Modi, Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, Information & Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur, Minister for Women & Child Development Smriti Irani and Union Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh canvass for party candidates in J&K. Besides Yogi, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand CMs Bhajan Lal Sharma and Pushkar Singh Dhami will hit campaign trail in J&K.
“Most of the rallies will be held in Jammu region as focus of the party is to win at least three Lok Sabha seats -- two seats from Jammu, and newly created Anantnag-Rajouri seat,” a party leader said, wishing anonymity.
In 2014 and 2019 polls, the BJP won Udhampur and Jammu seats. The National Conference won three Valley seats in 2019. The BJP has announced candidates for two of the five seats. It has fielded its MPs again –Jitendra Singh from Udhampur and Jugal Kishore from Jammu. The BJP is yet to announce candidates for Anantnag-Rajouri, Srinagar and Baramulla seats. Party sources said BJP’s J&K chief Ravinder Raina is frontrunner from Anantnag-Rajouri seat. The party is hopeful of wresting the seat from NC with support of Paharis. The government recently granted ST status to Paharis.