Cong to have 40 'star campaigners' for HP polls

New Delhi, Oct 23: Congress on Monday announced 'star campaigners' for Himachal Pradesh legislative assembly elections besides party president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi, also include former prime minister Manmohan Singh and Opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad in the list. The list of 'prominent campaigners' of the party also include former union minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Ambika Soni, Anand Sharma, Jyotiridatiya Scindia, Sachin Pilot and Manish Tewari. The names of Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, former chief minister of Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda, former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat, AICC media-in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala, legislators Raj Babbar, Pramod Tiwari, Ranjit Ranjan, Pratap Singh Bajwa, Sunil Jakkhar and Gaurav Gogoi also appear in the list. Ms Sushmita Dev and Gulam Mohammad Mir also find a place in the tally. Ms Kailashaon Saini, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Vijendra Singh, Ashok Tanwar, G S Bali, Kaul Singh Thakur, Kuldeep Sharma, Pritam Singh, Charan Jeet Singh Channi, Manpreet Singh Badal, Madan Lal Sharma and Jaiveer Shergill will too campaign for the Congress in the HP polls. The voting for 68 seats of the Himachal Pradesh assembly will be held on November 9 and the counting will take place on December 18. October 23, Monday is the last date for filing nominations for the polls in the state.Various political factions have started campaigning at their own levels in Himachal and it is expected to gain momentum. UNI