Modi, Rahul, Sonia, stars to raise campaign heat in Punjab

Chandigarh, April 20: Turning up the heat, political heavyweights and film stars are set to woo voters in the last leg of campaigning in Punjab for the April 30 Lok Sabha elections for the 13 seats from the state.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi are scheduled to address rallies in the state.

Modi will address four meetings in Bathinda, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot and Amritsar on April 25, state BJP sources said. Rahul is expected to address a rally on April 24 at Ludhiana in favour of Congress candidate Ravneet Singh Bittu, grandson of late Chief Minister Beant Singh.

Punjab Congress spokesman Sukhpal Singh claimed that Rahul is also scheduled to address another rally on April 28 at Bathinda in favour of Manpreet Singh Badal.

Sonia is expected to address a rally at Barnala on April 26 in support of Sangrur candidate and sitting MP Vijay Inder Singla who is pitted against SAD's Rajya Sabha member Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and AAP's Bhagwant Mann, party sources said.

Film stars like Sunny Deol, Hema Malini, Sonakshi Sinha, Akshay Khanna and Rabbi Shergill will be in the state to add glamour to the high voltage campaigning.

Akshay will canvass for his father, BJP candidate Vinod Khanna who is battling it out against Congress state chief, Partap Singh Bajwa in Gurdaspur.

PTI