SONIA TO LAUNCH POLL CAMPAIGN IN HARYANA ON OCTOBER 4

NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi will launch her Haryana poll campaign with two rallies in Meham and Sirsa on October 4.

She will also address one or two more public meetings — one of these likely in Tosham — before the campaigning ends in the state. Haryana along with Maharashtra goes to polls on October 15 and the results will be out on October 19.

Similarly, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi will address four rallies in the state that has been ruled by his party for 10 consecutive years.

But before that, the party is set to release its manifesto for the state on October 1. Congress sources said the poll document has special emphasis on education and farmers’ issues. Among its promises in the manifesto, the party is set to pledge loan for farmers at zero per cent interest rate, one university in every district of the state and a teacher’s training institute at Rohtak district.

The eight public meetings by Sonia and Rahul in Haryana are expected to boost the party’s poll prospects in the state where it won just one of seat in the Lok Sabha elections.

Congress leaders are hopeful that the party could benefit from multi-cornered contest in almost each of the total 90 constituencies. They are banking on the division of opposition votes in the wake of the BJP-Haryana Janhit Congress split, absence of leadership in the Indian National Lok Dal whose two senior leaders Om Prakash Chautala and Ajay Chautala are in jail and the BJP’s appeal only among the non-Jats.

THE EIGHT PUBLIC MEETINGS BY SONIA AND RAHUL IN HARYANA ARE EXPECTED TO BOOST THE PARTY’S ELECTION PROSPECTS IN THE STATE