After fielding top leaders of the State Congress in the lok Sabha polls, the central leadership of the party has decided to intensify its campaign in Punjab with rallies of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi lined up in the State.
While Sonia Gandhi would address three rallies, the Prime Minister would address two and Rahul five rallies in different lok Sabha constituencies in the next fortnight. Sources in the Punjab Congress said the top leaders would focus especially on those constituencies, where sitting MPs and senior State Congress leaders are facing stiff competition from their rival candidates from SAD-BJP and AAP.
Sonia Gandhi would start her campaigning from Anandpur Sahib lok Sabha constituency, for her close aide and senior leader Ambika Soni, who is facing stiff competition from SAD's Prem Singh Chandumajra. She would also address two rallies at Patiala and ludhiana where its two sitting MPs former Union Minister Perneet Kaur and Ravneet Bittu are the candidates.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would address rallies in Faridkot and Fatehgarh Sahib to help their candidates Joginder Singh Panjgrain and Sadhu Singh Dharamsot. In Faridkot, Panjgrain is facing Paramjit Kaur Gulshan and in Fatehgarh SAD has fielded Kulwant Singh. Rahul Gandhi is expected to address rallies in Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Khadoor Sahib, Jalandhar and Ferozepur lok Sabha constituencies during the poll campaign.
In Amritsar, it is Captain Amrinder Singh versus BJP stalwart leader Arun Jaitely and in Gurdaspur Partap Singh Bajwa faces Vinod Khanna. Interestingly, so far no top leader is expected to seek votes for Manpreet Singh Badal, the estranged nephew of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is contesting on the Congress symbol. Punjab, which goes to polls on April 30, is expected to witness a tough fight this time between SAD-BJP on one hand and Congress on the other.