UP elections: Priyanka Gandhi stars in Congress campaigners list

Only a few days back, Priyanka successfully stitched up an alliance with the ruling Samajwadi Party in the state where Congress got 105 seats and the SP 298.

Lucknow: Congress president's daughter Priyanka Gandhi will campaign for party candidates in Uttar Pradesh for the state Assembly polls.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, wife of Robert Vadra, would be electioneering in the state, beyond the family fiefdoms of Amethi and Rae Bareli, where she has canvassed for her mother and brother Rahul Gandhi in the past too, IANS reported.

Her name figured in the list of 40 star campaigners released by the Congress on Tuesday.

Only a few days back, Priyanka successfully stitched up an alliance with the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) in the state where Congress got 105 seats and the SP 298.

She will be campaigning in Amethi, Rae Bareli, Chandauli, Ghaziabad and Saharanpur. 

The other high-profile star campaigners named by the Congress include former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit, UPCC Chief Raj Babbar, Congress National General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Janardan Dwivedi, Ahmad Patel, Kamal Nath, Pramod Tiwari, Mukul Vasnik and Sanjay Singh.

The list also names Pradip Mathur, Nirmal Khatri, PL Punia, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupendra Singh Hudda, Salman Khursheed, Kumari Shailja, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Manish Tiwari, Rajeev Shukla, Sachin Pilot, Deepender Singh Hooda, Shakil Ahmad, RPN Singh, Naseeb Singh, Shobha Oza, Zuber Khan, Rana Goswami, Avinash Pandey and film actress Naghma.

Samajwadi Party and Congress on Sunday sealed a pre-poll pact to contest the UP assembly elections, ending days of suspense and feverish parleys, with compulsions of realpolitik forcing the two parties to come together to thwart BJP's attempt to storm back two power after 15 years.

The alliance, which at one stage looked doomed with both sides driving a hard bargain, was announced by the chiefs of the state units of the two parties who declared while SP will have the lion's share of 298 of 403 seats, Congress will contest the remaining 105.

Uttar Pradesh is set to have a seven-phase polling between February 11 and March 8.