The Congress on Tuesday released a list of 40 star campaigners, which includes former party presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Newly elected Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel are among the other prominent names on the list. The list also includes former deputy chief minister of Rajasthan Sachin Pilot who is not on very good terms with Gehlot who is currently the monitoring the assembly elections of Gujarat due in first week of December.
Rahul Gandhi, who’s name also figured as star campaigners in the just concluded polls in Himachal Pradesh, did not campaigned there but sources in the party said the Lok Sabha MP is scheduled to conduct a couple of road shows in the poll bound Gujarat which also happens to be the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Former chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Digvijaya Singh and Kamal Nath, are also scheduled to campaign in Gujarat where state leaders have shouldered most of the campaign efforts so far. Kanhaiya Kumar, who joined the Congress last year, will also campaign for the party.
The list of star campaigners also features around 11 leaders from the state, including Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Jagdish Thakor and Leader of Opposition Sukhram Rathva. One of the names missing from the list of star campaigners is that of Shashi Tharoor who last visited Gujarat while contesting the polls for the post of party president last month. Election to the 182 Assembly seats in Gujarat will be held in two phases, on December 1 and 5, while the results will be out on December 8.