Electioneering to hit top gear as star campaigners head to Kashmir Valley

Arjun Sharma

Jammu, April 4

With the polling for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections scheduled for April 19, star campaigners from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress will start arriving in Jammu and Kashmir to campaign for their party candidates.

The star campaigners include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is scheduled to visit Udhampur on April 12, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who will address a rally in Jammu on April 9, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who is expected to address a rally on April 10 in Kathua.

While the dates of star campaigners from Congress have so far not been confirmed, party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi, among 27 national leaders, will visit J&K to campaign for their party candidates. These leaders will campaign for the first and second phases of the Lok Sabha elections on April 19 and April 26, respectively.

The BJP is preparing for the mega rally of Modi on April 12, which will not only cater to the Udhampur constituency where sitting MP and Union Minister Jitendra Singh is contesting, but workers even from Jammu LS constituency will take part in the rally. Udhampur constituency is very crucial for the BJP, as it has been won by the saffron party twice since 2014, and Congress is leaving no stone unturned to challenge the BJP candidate this time.

Besides Congress star campaigners, even Kashmir-based leaders, including Farooq Abdullah and the PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti, will campaign for Congress candidates from Jammu who are part of INDIA bloc.

While the Anantnag constituency in Kashmir, which also has parts of Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu division, will go to the polls on May 7, the BJP has so far not announced any candidate for the seat. The BJP is working hard this time to enter the Kashmir region through this constituency. However, NC has made things difficult for the saffron party by fielding Mian Altaf, who is a prominent Gujjar leader.

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