Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will arrive in J&K on Wednesday and set Congress’ campaign in motion by addressing rallies in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district and Ramban district in Jammu division.
“Rahul will kickstart the party’s campaign from Wednesday. He will address two public rallies in Ramban and Anantnag districts,” Jammu and Kashmir Congress senior vice president GN Monga said.
In J&K, NC and Congress are jointly contesting the assembly elections and have left two seats for allies CPI(M) and Panthers Party. While Congress will contest 32 seats, NC will fight on 51 and there will be a friendly contest on five seats.
Rahul will hold the rallies in Dooru constituency of Anantnag in south Kashmir and Banihal constituency of Ramban in Jammu division.
“Rahul is first expected to land in Srinagar from where he will go to Dooru for a rally,” said Congress spokesperson Sheikh Aamir.
In Dooru, Rahul will address a public rally at Dooru sports stadium in the afternoon where the party has fielded former minister and former J&K Pradesh Congress president Ghulam Ahmad Mir. In Banihal, he will be holding the rally at Sangaldan from where the party has given mandate to former Jammu and Kashmir unit chief of the party Vikar Rasool Wani. Anantnag and Banihal are connected by a road tunnel through which passed the Srinagar-Jammu national highway.
In the seat sharing agreement Congress is contesting from Sangrama, Dooru, Anantnag and Shalteng seats in Kashmir valley.
Congress leaders are hopeful that Rahul Gandhi’s campaign for party candidates will give an edge to them in the polls. “Rahul Gandhi has a good fan following in J&K especially in Kashmir. During his Bharat Jodo Yatra, a large number of common people turned up. And his presence in Kashmir will be a gamechanger,” said Ghulam Ahmad Mir, the Congress candidate from Dooru.
The first assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir in a decade will be held in three phases on September 18 and 25, and October 1.
Aamir further said, “When BJP took everything away from the people of J&K, the Gandhi family stood behind them. Even Congress has been strongly advocating return of statehood and other things which resonate with people,” he said.
The Congress leaders said that besides Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Priyanka Vadra are also expected to travel to J&K for campaign. After the announcement of polls in J&K, earlier this month Kharge and Rahul Gandhi visited J&K for two days and also finalized the seat sharing agreement with the NC.
