Vajpayee not to campaign in UP, Cong to fire battery of stars

Varanasi, Apr 16 (UNI) Even as BJP today completely ruled out possibility of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee hitting the campaign trail for remaining phases of UP assembly poll, Congress announced to unleash a battery of stars led by film star turned MP Govinda.

''Mr Vajpayee is sick and will not be able to make it to campaign even in the remaining phases of the assembly poll,'' a senior BJP leader told UNI here today.

The campaign, however, will be led by BJP president Rajnath Singh, former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, former party president Murli Manohar Joshi, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and other national and state party leaders including Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi,'' the BJP leader said.

He said film stars turned BJP leaders including Hema Malini, Shatrughan Sinha will join TV actress Smriti Malhotra and cricketer-turned-MP from Amritsar Navjot Singh Siddhu in the poll campaign. These stalwarts will hit East UP after April 20.

Meanwhile, Congress leaders claimed a battery of film stars led by Bollywood actor and Cong MP Govinda, Bhojpuri cinema superstars Manoj Tiwari and Ravi Kishan, besides comedian Raju Srivastava will solicit votes for party candidates in various parts of East UP after April 18.

Maharastra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh will also travel to various assembly segments in East UP for Congress candidates.

UNI