New Delhi: Despite Atal Bihari Vajpayee
being in retirement mode owing to his ill-health, the former
Prime Minister figures among BJP`s 40 top campaigners for
Maharashtra Assembly elections.
The BJP top brasses L K Advani, Rajnath Singh, Murli
Manohar Joshi, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj are there along
with Vajpayee, so also Manohar Parrikar, whose `rancid pickle`
remark against Advani had recently created a flutter.
Shatrughan Sinha, who has created a stir by praising
Rahul Gandhi, is also among the 40 star campaigners.
BJP vice-president Gopinath Munde and spokesperson
Prakash Javadekar are among the Marathi leaders from the
central leadership who figure in the list of star campaigners.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who failed to
garner votes for the party during the Lok Sabha elections in
the state where he was made in-charge, leads several other
party chief ministers in the campaigners` list.
Others Chief Minister include B S Yeedyurappa
(Karnataka), Prem Kumar Dhumal (Himachal Pradesh), Ramesh
Pokhriyal (Uttarakhand), Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya
Pradesh), Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh) and Deputy Chief Minister
of Bihar, Sushil Kumar Modi.
Hema Malini, whose Rajya Sabha term is over, and TV
actor-cum-politician Smriti Irani, along with former cricketer
and MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, will also canvas for BJP.
BJP Chief Whip in Rajya Sabha Maya Singh also figures
in the list of 40 names submitted to the Election Commission.
Bureau Report
