Rahul, Hooda, Chavan, Azad star campaigners
Congress vice- president Rahul Gandhi, chief ministers Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Prithviraj Chavan and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad will be the party’s “star” campaigners in the upcoming Assembly elections in Haryana, Maharashtra and J& K.
While Ms Priyanka Gandhi is unlikely to campaign as the party does not want to use this card in the Assembly polls as it is reserved for general elections, it is unclear whether former PM Manmohan Singh will address select meetings, especially in Mumbai and Srinagar.
This will be the first electoral battle after the LS elections to see whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be a factor or whether it will be fought on local issues by local leaders. The Congress does not have a “face” in Jharkhand, which is also going to polls. The young Gandhi has been addressing more election meetings than Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, as seen in the Lok Sabha polls and earlier in UP, Bihar, MP, Rajasthan and other states. The party does not want to debate whether the Gandhi scion is a votecatcher or charismatic for the simple reason that the Congress does not have a leader or leaders who are crowd- pullers even at the state level. Mr Hooda and Mr Chavan will get a free hand in selection of party nominees and finalising campaign themes because of their proximity to the high command.
A senior party leader said, “We know the possible outcome in these two states... it cannot not be different from the Lok Sabha results. But we have no choice,” the leader said.