G-23 leaders Azad, Tewari not among Congress' star campaigners for Punjab

New Delhi, Feb 4: Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Manish Tewari are not part of the list of star campaigners for the upcoming assembly elections in Punjab.

Azad and Tewari are among the prominent members of the G-23 who had written to party leadership seeking an overhaul and have been questioning the leadership. Also, Azad was recently conferred with Padma Bhushan by the BJP-government.

The grand old party released its list of 30 'star campaigners' for Punjab, which includes Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, and Rahul Gandhi, on Friday. Some other members of the G-23 such as Anand Sharma and Bhupinder Singh Hooda are among the star campaigners for Punjab. The party has also included former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot, who earlier rebelled against the Congress.

Tewari is also the lone Hindu MP from Punjab, even though another MP from Punjab Ravneet Singh Bittu has been included in the list. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Harish Chaudhary, PCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Ambika Soni, and former Speaker Meira Kumar are part of the list.

Chief ministers Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel, former PCC chiefs Sunil Jakhar, Partap Singh Bajwa, Ajay Maken, and Randeep Surjewala are among the star campaigners. Haryana Congress chief Kumari Selja, Rajeev Shukla, Ranjeet Ranjan, Netta D'Souza, BV Srinivas, Imran Pratapgarhi, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Amrita Dhawan, Raminder Awla, and Tajender Singh Bittoo have also been named in the list of 30 star campaigners for Punjab. PTI

Punjab will vote in single phase on February 20.