PM, Sonia, Priyanka to campaign for Cong in UP poll

Lucknow, Mar 19 (UNI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her daughter Priyanka Vadra are among the prominent Congress leaders who will campaign for the party in the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

The Congress today informed the Election Commission (EC) and the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) that 40 leaders, would campaign for the party during the seven-phase election beginning April 7.

Besides the PM, Ms Sonia Gandhi, who is an MP from Rae Bareli and Priyanka, four serving chief ministers of Congress-ruled states would also campaign in UP.

Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi is already holding a three-day roadshow in western UP, which goes to polls in phase two and three on April 13 and April 18 respectively. Young leaders -- Sachin Pilot and Jyotirditya Scindia -- will also campaign for party candidates.

The four Chief Ministers are Ghulam Nabi Azad (Jammu and Kashmir), Shiela Dikshit (Delhi), Virbhadra Singh (Himachal Pradesh) and Bhupinder Singh Hooda (Haryana).

Union ministers, including Oscar Fernandes, Kamal Nath, Shushil Kumar Shinde, Mahabir Prasad, Meira Kumar, Akhilesh Das, Sri Prakash Jaiswal, A R Antuley, Shakeel Ahmed, Kapil Sibal and Subodhkant Sahay would also campaign.

Former Uttrakhand CM N D Tiwari, former Madhya Pradesh CM Digvijay Singh, former Rajasthan CM and AICC general secretary in charge of UP affairs Ashok Gehlot and former UP governor Motilal Vohra are also in the list, UP Congress spokesperson Virendra Madan said here.

UNI