Political parties banking on star campaigners

Dehradun, January 14

With barely two weeks to go for the Assembly polls in Uttarakhand, to win over voters and create a wave in their favour, political parties are now heavily banking on their respective star campaigners.

As in hill districts heavy snowfall has affected normal life and electoral campaign, the star campaigners’ itinerary is now being concentrated in plain segments of the state, particularly in Haridwar.

Congress party national chief Sonia Gandhi’s Haldwani election rally was cancelled owing to extreme weather conditions. Now her electoral tour has been confined in plain segments of Roorkee and Rishikesh.

The UPA chairperson will be addressing voters on January 17 at Lido grounds in Roorkee, where party election planners are expecting a 50,000-odd crowd.

Rajesh Rastogi, Congress Sewa Dal spokesperson, told TNS that Sonia’s visit has been finalised with 10 Janpath giving final consent and now they are busy in making successful the preparations for the rally.

A team of Special Protection Group (SPG), which gives security cover to Gandhi, has inspected the rally venue and Haridwar SSP Pushkar Sailal has also paid an inspection visit to the venue.

With the joining of multiple Asian gold medalist-ace shooter Jaspal Rana in Congress last week, in view of a substantial number of hilly voters in plain segments, the demand of Rana is also being made by Haridwar-Dehradun party candidates.

Communist parties have also plunged into this star attraction public drawing effort. CPI (M) parliamentarian and general secretary of CITU Tapan Sen has arrived in Haridwar today.

More is in the offing, as CP(M) has finalised the whirlwind tour of its firebrand leader Vrinda Karat, while talks are on to call in politburo member Sita Ram Yechury.

With BSP finding it hard to regains its six seats tally in Haridwar district, the party is now banking on its supremo, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, who is scheduled to address a mega rally on January 23 at Nehru Stadium in Roorkee.

Bharatiya Janata Party, which has the ruling government in the state, is also finalising its star campaigners, with heavy demand from party candidates for calling in glamorous faces such as Hema Malini and Vinod Khanna.

Former Uttar Pradesh CM and in-charge of UP-Uttarakhand election Rajnath Singh will be attending tomorrow an election meeting of Haridwar(rural) party candidate Swami Yatishwaranand.

As Hema Malini and Sushma Swaraj in recent years have been to Haridwar, party candidates are demanding their presence in their rallies to give a stiff reply to rival parties as far as star campaigners are concerned.

Dhan Singh Rawat, general secretary of BJP, who is contesting from Sringar Garhwal segment, told TNS that the parties’ star campaigners plan will get finalised before 16th and not only will they be campaigning in plain segments but also in hilly districts as core of the state population lives there only.

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and his parliamentarian son Akhilesh Yadav’s tour has not been finalised as per party state chief Vinod Barthwal.

Tripta Sharma, Haridwar party candidate of Nationalist Congress Party, said that party state unit had invited Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and his parliamentarian daughter Supriya Suley to Haridwar for an election rally.