Mumbai: United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh would be the star campaigners, among others, in phase one and phase two of the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra.
The Congress has submitted the list of star campaigners to the Election Commission of India. Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, who has announced that he will not campaign for alliance partner NCP in Ahmednagar, and state Congress chief Ashok Chavan’s wife Ameeta have also been included in the list. Senior journalist and Rajya Sabha member Kumar Ketkar is also a star campaigner.
According to the list, there are 40 star campaigners of the party.
Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil’s son Dr Sujay Vikhe-Patil joined the BJP a fortnight ago and was given a ticket from the Ahmednagar constituency by the BJP. This indicates the party high command’s trusts on Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil.
Actress Nagma Moraji, who stepped into politics from Bollywood, also figures in the star campaigners’ list. Former cricketer-turned-politician Azharuddin also figures in the list of star campaigners. A well-known shayar (poet) Imran Pratapgarhi, who is also a party candidate from the Moradabad seat, is also on the list of star campaigners of the state.
Mumbai Congress’s new president Milind Deora and ex-president Sanjay Nirupam, who has been sacked from his current post just ahead of the election, are also among the party's star campaigners.
In addition to this, north Indian face, former minister Kripashankar Singh; and former minister and sitting legislator Naseem Khan will also campaign for the party. Congress sitting legislator Vijay Wadettiwar, former MP Vilas Muttemwar, former minister Dr Nitin Raut, party general secretary Mukul Wasnik, party spokesman Sachin Sawant, former minister Shivraj Patil, and former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan have also been included in the list of star campaigners.
