New Delhi: The Congress has stepped on the accelerator for their campaign in Punjab. With just seven days to go for the end of campaign to end, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is starting a three-day tour of Punjab from Friday. He would be addressing three rallies a day along with several public meetings.
It is almost after two months that Mr Gandhi would be going back to Punjab for campaigning. People familiar with the matter said Mr Gandhi may officially announce Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh as the chief ministerial candidate.
The campaign of the Congress in Punjab, which started in June 2016, is centred around Mr Singh. When the Congress finally got into active campaign mode near the elections, it started the slogan, “Punjab Da Captain”.
Two specific programmes were designed around him — Coffee with Captain, and Halke Vich Captain.
The Congress party has brushed up its list of star campaigners; it includes former Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is also expected to address a rally in the poll-bound state. He also released the Congress’ manifesto for the state.
The campaign of the Congress is centred around waiving off farm loans, removing the drug problem in four weeks, and giving jobs to one member in every household.
Currently, the Congress is facing a stiff challenge from the Aam Aadmi Party. The former is taking no chances it is using all its big guns in the campaign.
Mr Gandhi had also organised several rallies in the state last year and interacted with farmers.
His party had collected some 25 lakh “kisan maang patras” (document stating farmers’ demands) from the state, which require farmers to fill in loan amount pending with them.
