Dehra Dun: Notwithstanding the biting cold,
political bigwigs and Bollywood stars are ready to hit the
election scene in the run-up to January 30 Assembly polls in
Uttarakhand.
From Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to BJP President Nitin
Gadkari, most political heavyweights are coming to the hill
state to drum up support for their parties.
To begin with, Congress President Sonia Gandhi would
kick-start her party's campaign tomorrow from Tehri, much of
which has already met the watery grave.
This will be the first rally of the UPA chairperson, who
could not address two earlier scheduled political meetings.
She is also expected to hold a separate rally in Roorkee in
Haridwar district tomorrow.
On earlier occasions, Gandhi could not address a public
rally at Gauchar in Garhwal region in November last year due
to health reasons. She again failed to turn up at Haldwani
early this month, this time due to poor weather conditions.
Later, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would address two
rallies in Uttarakhand at Rishikesh and Rudrapur on January
20, Congress spokesman Surendra Kumar said.
After his successful rally at Dehra Dun last month,
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi is also expected to
address a series of rallies to drum up support for his party,
which is locked in a close contest with BJP in the hill state.
In order to cash in on the appeal of film stars, Congress
is banking on its leaders like Raj Babbar, the saffron party
has already booked its star campaigner Shatrughan Sinha,
former dream girl Hema Malini and TV star Smriti Irani.
Besides, Singh and Gandhis, other senior Congress
ministers and leaders like Pranab Mukherjee, Ghulam Nabi Azad,
C P Joshi and others would also seek votes for Congress.
On the other hand, BJP is also banking on its top leaders
like L K Advani, Gadkari, Murli Manohar Joshi, Rajnath Singh,
Arun Jaitely and Sushma Swaraj.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is also expected woo
voters on the name of Hindutva as well as the development.
Both Congress and BJP parties are also trying to contact
other top Bollywood stars like Shahrukh Khan, Ritik Roshan and
Katrina Kaif to come to Uttarakhand.
Similarly from other parties, Samajwadi party leader
Mulayam Singh yadav, Uttar Pradesh chief Minister Mayawati and
Trinamool Congress chief Mamta Banerjee are also likely to
address rallies in support of their party candidates.
PTI
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