Punjab polls: Ghulam Nabi Azad, Manish Tewari’s names missing from Congress star campaigners’ list

Ghulam Nabi Azad and Manish Tewari are among the prominent members of the G-23 who had written to Congress leadership seeking an overhaul and have been questioning the leadership.

New Delhi: Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Lok Sabha MP from the state Manish Tewari are not among the party's star campaigners for the February 20 assembly election in Punjab.

The Congress released its list of 30 'star campaigners' for Punjab, which includes Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, and Rahul Gandhi.

Azad and Tewari are among the prominent members of the G-23 who had written to party leadership seeking an overhaul and have been questioning the leadership. Azad was also recently conferred with Padma Bhushan by the government of India.

However, some other members of the G-23 such as Anand Sharma and Bhupinder Singh Hooda are among the star campaigners for Punjab.

The party has also included former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, who earlier rebelled against the Congress.

Tewari is also the lone Hindu MP from Punjab, even though another MP from Punjab Ravneet Singh Bittu has been included in the list.

The list also includes Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Harish Chaudhary, PCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Ambika Soni, and former Speaker Meira Kumar.

Chief ministers Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel, former PCC chiefs Sunil Jakhar, Partap Singh Bajwa, Ajay Maken, and Randeep Surjewala are among the star campaigners.

Haryana Congress chief Kumari Selja, Rajeev Shukla, Ranjeet Ranjan, Netta D'Souza, BV Srinivas, Imran Pratapgarhi, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Amrita Dhawan, Raminder Awla, and Tajender Singh Bittoo have also been named in the list of 30 star campaigners for Punjab.