Rajasthan gears up for star-studded campaign

Jaipur, Nov 5 (UNI) Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi, her MP son Rahul, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and BJP Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani will be the main campaigners for their respective parties, even as both the main contenders to power in Rajasthan are gearing up for a star-studded campaign for the December 4 Assembly Polls.

Mr Advani, Mr Modi, BJP Chief Rajnath Singh, would be the ruling party's main campaigners, party state president and sitting MP Om Prakash Mathur said.

Mr Mathur told UNI that other prominent leaders, including M Venkaiah Naidu, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and several national and state leaders, would also garner support for the party.

Besides this, many film stars, including former Union Ministers Vinod Khanna and Shatrughan Sinha, party MP Hema Malini and her MP husband Dharmendra, were also being invited to pull crowds for the saffron party.

While the campaign would be kicked off by Mr Advani and Mr Singh at a huge workers' meet, 'Vijay Sankalp Mahakumbh' here tomorrow, the hectic phase of the actual electioneering would begin from November 20 or 21, after the deadline for withdrawal of the nominations, Mr Mathur said.

For the Congress, Ms Gandhi and her son Rahul would be the main vote seekers, even as the visits of leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindhia and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad were being planned, a Congress spokesman said.

Actors-turned-politicians Raj Babbar and Govinda, daughter of late Sunil Dutt, MP Priya Dutt, and some other cine personalities were also being invited by the party.

While the party did intend to counter Chief Minister Raje's influence by bringing in her nephew, Union Minister Jyotiraditya, for campaign, film actor and sitting MP from Agra Raj Babbar, was being planned to be invited for the electioneering in the Jat-dominated area in Bharatpur and nearby districts, the spokesman added.

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