NEW DELHI: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, along with former party leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, are among the key figures listed as star campaigners for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections. The Congress has submitted the names to the Election Commission for the second phase of the three-phase polls.
The list also includes senior Congress leaders like Jairam Ramesh, K C Venugopal, Sachin Pilot, and Ghulam Ahmad Mir, as well as Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and his deputy Mukesh Agnihotri. Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief Tariq Hamid Karra, former J&K Congress chief Vikar Rasool Wani, and other prominent leaders such as Salman Khurshid, Ajay Maken, Syed Naseer Hussain, Rajani Patil, Rajiv Shukla, and Manish Tewari also feature among the 40 leaders selected for the campaign.
Rahul Gandhi, while launching the Congress election campaign in J&K, pledged that the first act of the INDIA bloc upon coming to power would be to restore the region’s statehood if the Modi government fails to do so after the assembly elections. Speaking at rallies in Dooru and Banihal, Gandhi criticized the Centre’s appointed lieutenant governor in Jammu and Kashmir, accusing him of acting like a “21st-century king” and favoring individuals from outside the Union Territory.
The Congress’s list of star campaigners also includes media and publicity head Pawan Khera, social media department head Supriya Shrinate, Amethi MP Kishorilal Sharma, NSUI in-charge Kanhaiya Kumar, and Indian Youth Congress president Srinivas BV.
The 90-member Jammu and Kashmir assembly is set to go to polls in three phases on September 18, September 25, and October 1, with votes being counted on October 8.
