BJP campaign dwarfs Cong’s in Kangra

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, October 31

With only a week left for election campaigning, the BJP is going all out in politically significant Kangra while the Congress is waiting for the last days to rope in its star campaigners.

The BJP has started its campaigning since Sunday. Party president Amit Shah will hold rallies almost daily till November 5 in Kangra . PM Narendra Modi will hold rallies for three days, at Rehan in Nurpur on November 2, at Chambi in Shahpur on November 4 and Palampur on November 5.

UP CM Yogi Adityanath Yogi also held rallies in Kangra district yesterday. Former Union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy today campaigned in Nurpur for Rakesh Pathania. Besides, now the CM candidate PK Dhumal and former CM Shanta Kumar are also making extensive tours of Kangra.

On the contrary, Congress candidates are on their own for the time being. All Congress candidates, including senior leaders and ministers, have confined themselves to their own constituencies.

Sources said Congress rallies in Kangra would be held after November 5. Navjot Sidhu, Punjab minister, and Randeep Singh Surjewala would campaign for Sudhir Sharma in Dharamsala. The party is also planning to hold a rally of party vice-president Rahul Gandhi in Kangra, however, the venue is yet to be decided.

Some senior Congress leaders said there was lack of cohesiveness in the campaign. The candidates were not getting adequate support from the party high command and had been left to fend for themselves. The BJP campaign was more planned whereas Congress candidates were fighting individual battles in their own constituencies, he said. Sources said the condition was such that even Virbhadra Singh was being forced to make long journeys by road as the helicopter was not available to him.