CHANDIGARH: With AAP not leaving anything to chance, the Congress leadership tried to put its act together for some carpet bombing by its star campaigners, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, for an eleventh hour push as polling draws to a close on Friday evening.
Party sources said after realising that chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi seemed to be single-handedly leading the campaign in the state, the party has stepped up its effort, including publicity campaigns on various media. After missing out on being the CM face, PPCC president Navjot Singh Sidhu has been restricted to his own constituency of Amritsar East, where he faces SAD heavyweight Bikram Singh Majithia.
When contacted, Punjab Congress’s Election Control Room incharge Gokul Butail said apart from Rahul and Priyanka, party’s other star campaigners for the Punjab polls, including Kanhaiya Kumar, Sachin Pilot, Ajay Maken and Deepender Hooda, had been campaigning for the party candidates in different parts of the state over the past couple of days.
Meanwhile, to send out the right signal, the party also organised a joint road show of Channi and Sidhu in the latter’s constituency on Thursday. Channi had taken over as the face of the party’s campaign soon after he was officially announced the CM-pick on February 6, making a whirlwind tour of the state to campaign for party nominees.
The Congress election campaign has also been marred by internal strife and a section of the party MPs have stayed away from extensive canvassing. Even though Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu campaigned for Sidhu in his constituency, other MPs have not thrown their weight behind the PPCC chief even though he faces tough competition on the seat. Patiala MP Preneet Kaur has also kept away from the party’s activities while Khadoor Sahib MP Jasbir Singh Gill is sore over his brother not being given party candidature.
The Congress has tried to give momentum to its campaign in the wake of AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal camping in Punjab since February 12 to campaign for party candidates till the end of campaigning.
His deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and party leader Raghav Chadha too have been holding road shows and public meetings.
