Must make Mandi contest tough for Kangana Ranaut: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, April 7

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has told Himachal Congress leaders to make the Lok Sabha contest in Mandi a tough one and not give the BJP a walkover at any cost.

The BJP has fielded actor Kangana Ranaut from the seat. The Tribune has learnt that Priyanka, at a meeting with Himachal Congress leaders late on Saturday, said Kangana must be defeated and the party must mount a spirited campaign across all seats, especially Mandi.

The Congress has finalised the candidature of sitting MLA and minister Vikramaditya Singh against Kangana from Mandi. Vikramaditya was present at the meeting that took at the residence of Congress in-charge for Himachal Rajiv Shukla. Sources privy to discussions told The Tribune that Priyanka was clear about preventing Kangana from coming to Parliament.

Kangana has been publicly attacking the Gandhi family and has told a television channel that Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka are not cut out for politics but are being forced by mother Sonia to carry on.

Priyanka also told the Himachal leaders that she would campaign for the party candidates in the state for the LS poll and would be stationed at her Shimla residence during the last two weeks of the elections.

All four Himachal seats will poll on June 1 in the last phase.

The sources said Priyanka told the leaders of Himachal to “save the state government and ward off any new challenge from the BJP”.

She said the instability triggered by the recent joining of the BJP by disqualified Congress MLAs needed to be offset.

“People of Himachal must be told this is not the culture of the state,” Priyanka told the leaders with Chief Minnister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu in presence.

The Congress is yet to declare its candidates for the four Lok Sabha seats in the state. It is toying with the idea of fielding veteran leader Asha Kumari from Kangra; the panel for Shimla includes Dyal Pyari, Amit Nanda and MLA Vinod Sultanpuri. The panel for Hamirpur includes MLA Satpal Raizada.

Yesterday, the Himachal Congress coordination committee had met at the residence of party president Mallikarjun Kharge.

The first test of the Congress unity and strength will be the coming Assembly byelections to six seats where the BJP has fielded disqualified Congress rebels, including Sudhir Sharma, who had joined the saffron ranks recently.

To take active part in campaign

• Meets senior Himachal leaders, assures them of full support for LS campaign
• Priyanka will be stationed at her Shimla residence during the last two weeks of elections

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