Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet colleagues will try to woo the voters ahead of the November 9 Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh, where the BJP is attempting to make a comeback to power.
Announcing its star campaigners for the Assembly elections in hill State, BJP has lined up senior leaders in Union Cabinet and several Chief Ministers besides senior members of the party.
The list of 40 star campaigners of the BJP, released on Sunday, include names of Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani, Health Minister JP Nadda, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Union Ministers Uma Bharti and Thawar Chand Gehlot, Gen (retd.) VK Singh, Vijay Sampla.
Among the Chief Ministers, the list includes Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Haryana CM Manohar lal Khattar, Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat. Senior BJP leaders Shanta Kumar, former Chief Minister PK Dhumal, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra and BJP leader Anurag Thakur will also campaign for the party.
Sources in the party said that the BJP is trying to organise four rallies of PM Narendra Modi in the state before the polling date. Although the schedule of his rallies is yet to be decided, the leaders in the party are of the opinion that Modi’s rally could turn the tide in party’s favour.
Meanwhile, the sequence of BJP leaders in the star campaigners list gave air to a new course of speculations as the name of Union Health Minister JP Nadda appeared far ahead of the former Chief Minister PK Dhumal.
Dhumal is considered to be a front runner for the post of Chief Minister, if BJP comes to power in Himachal Pradesh. While Dhumal’s name appeared at 23rd place in the list of star campaigners, Nadda’s name was put at 8th place. Nadda has also been in the reckoning for the post of Chief Minister.