North Indian leaders from Mumbai to campaign in UP

Mumbai, May 01: With the four-phase Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra coming to an end Monday, politicians of all hues, especially those from Uttar Pradesh who are settled in Mumbai, are set to campaign in their home state.

Leaders of the BJP, the Congress, the SP and the BSP are expected to campaign for candidates of their respective parties in the northern state which votes in seven phases till May 19.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who topped the list of political leaders for holding maximum number of rallies in the state, will also hit the hustings in Uttar Pradesh.

When contacted, the CM told PTI Tuesday that he is awaiting his formal campaign schedule.

According to highly-placed sources in the BJP, Fadnavis is likely to address at least 12 rallies, mainly in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, including in Varanasi and Gorakhpur.

In the recently-concluded elections in Maharashtra, the chief minister addressed a total of 87 rallies for the BJP-Shiv Sena combine.

"Besides Fadnavis, state Education Minister Vinod Tawde, MLA Raj Purohit, MLC R N Singh and few other leaders are slated to campaign in several Lok Sabha seats like Jaunpur, Azamgarh, Gorakhpur and Machhali Shahar in Purvanchal region, and also in Western UP," party sources said.

Politically crucial Uttar Pradesh sends maximum 80 MPs to Lok Sabha.

"Given that Uttar Pradesh is politically most crucial state, we are going to make all out efforts to win it again.

The party office is chalking out a schedule for UP campaigners," a party leader said.

Confirming this, state BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said several leaders from Maharashtra have either gone to Uttar Pradesh or will be going soon.

Bhandari also said North Indian politicians settled in Maharashtra are volunterring to campaign for BJP nominees in their home state.

Mumbai BJP general secretary Amarjeet Mishra said from Lucknow that more than 70 workers of the party from Maharashtra will be arriving in the UP capital to campaign for Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Mishra said many residents of Mumbai whose families live in Uttar Pradesh, will span across various districts in the northern state and spread word to vote for Modi.

Apart from the BJP, north Indian leaders of Congress in Mumbai like party MLA Naseem Khan and former legislator Kripashankar Singh to name a few, will also campaign in their home state.

Khan, who is already in UP, said he plans to address more than 24 rallies for Congress in the next eight days.

Senior Samajwadi Party leader and BMC corporator Rais Sheikh said Maharashtra chief of the party, Abu Asim Azmi is camping in UP.