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Rahul Gandhi to begin Bengal campaign today, 3 days ahead of phase 5 voting
Gandhi will address rallies in Goalpokhar and Matigara-Naxalbari assembly constituencies. In the fifth phase, polling will be held in 45 constituencies on April 17. Congress, as part of the Sanyukta Morcha, is fighting this year’s election in 92 constituencies
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will from Wednesday start campaigning in West Bengal, where assembly elections are being held. Half of the phases are already over with the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) campaigning aggressively.
Gandhi will address rallies in Goalpokhar and Matigara-Naxalbari assembly constituencies. In the fifth phase, polling will be held in 45 constituencies on April 17. Congress, as part of the Sanyukta Morcha, is fighting this year’s election in 92 constituencies.
The West Bengal unit of the Congress party earlier told Hindustan Times that Gandhi will travel to other districts of the state in the remaining phases of the election. He has so far campaigned in other poll-bound states such as Kerala, Assam, Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry.
On being asked why Gandhi didn’t campaign in Bengal during the first four phases, senior Congress leader B K Hariprasad told news agency PTI on Tuesday that Gandhi was busy with the other four states where the Congress party is contesting on more seats. “Here we are fighting in 92 seats. Another four phases are there and we will fight it out. Rahul ji is also coming. He will campaign (going forward),” said Hariprasad who is overseeing the party’s campaign management for Bengal as a senior observer.
Hariprasad pointed out there is a triangular contest in this year’s high stakes assembly polls and there is a strong undercurrent against the TMC and the BJP and in favour of the Congress-Indian Secular Front (ISF) alliance. He also alleged both the TMC and the BJP are disturbed in this election and have not talked about real issues during their campaigns.
Currently, the Congress holds dominance in a few districts of Bengal such as North Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad and others which will go into polling during the last three phases.
