Bollywood stars to attract voters in Meghalaya

Shillong, Jan 29 (UNI) With the BJP and the Samajwadi Party deciding to rope in Bollywood stars to boost their campaign in Meghalaya, the Congress has preferved top party functionaries for the same.

The BJP, which is trying to improve its tally of two legislators in the outgoing House, will rope in Bollywood dream girl Hema Malini, Smriti Irani, Dharmendra and Vinod Khanna, apart from its Chief Rajnath Singh and his team.

Former test cricketer and MP from Amritsar, Navjot Singh Sidhu would also make use of his famous 'Sidhuism' to attract the voters in the state.

The Samajwadi Party, which is fielding 15 candidates, is trying to rope in Bollywood heart-throb Aishwarya Rai and B Amitabh Bachchan to join the campaign trail with other senior party leaders.

''Our top party leaders - Mulayam Singh Yadav, Amar Singh, Jaya Prada and Jaya Bachchan - will join the election campaign in the state. We are also trying our best to bring in Aishwarya Rai and Amitabh Bachchan to attract our electors,'' state SP president S S Dkhar said.

The Congress has preferred Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi to lead the campaign trails in the state.

'' They (Bollywood stars) cannot make much impact in Meghalaya but the Prime Minister, Ms Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, besides others can enlighten the people more,'' state Pradesh Congress Committee Chief O L Nongtdu said.

Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party leaders - Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel and Tariq Anwar - will visit the state to join the party's election campaign.

A single-phase election of the 60 Assembly constituency will be held on March 3. Counting will be held on March 7. The filing of nomination papers will begin on February 8 and will close on February 15. The last date for withdrawal is February 18.

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