With the stage set for the crucial Gujarat Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have released the list of their star campaigners.
The BJP's list includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi, national BJP president Amit Shah, former deputy PM L K Advani, Union home minister Rajnath Singh, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj. Other senior BJP leaders who will campaign include Uma Bharti, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Smriti Irani, Parshottam Rupala, Mansukh Mandaviya, and Jasvantsinh Bhabhor.
Joining them will be Gujarat BJP president Jitu Vaghani, Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani and deputy CM Nitin Patel, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Aditya Nath, and Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis.
Other canvassers for the BJP will include former Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel, MP Paresh Rawal, and MP Hema Malini.
The Congress' star campaigners include Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, former PM Dr Manmohan Singh, former Rajasthan CM and in-charge of Gujarat affairs Ashok Gehlot, Rajya Sabha member Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Bharatsinh Solanki, and Sam Pitroda. Others who will campaign include Madhusudan Mistry, Deepak Babariya, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Raj Babbar, Sachin Pilot, Arjun Modhwadia, Siddharth Patel, Tushar Chaudhary, Paresh Dhanani, Kuvarji Bavaliya, Kadir Pirzada, Gaurav Pandya, Sagar Rayka, Raju Parmar, Jagdish Thakor, Ashok Punjabi, and Alpesh Thakor.
The Congress on Monday released its first list of candidates which came as a disappointment for the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), as only two of its members have found a place in it.
Upset with the development, the PAAS leadership directed its two members (who were given tickets) not to fill their nomination forms, as a sign of protest.
However, one of them (Vasoya) filed his nomination today from Dhroaji seat on the Congress' ticket.
Meanwhile, the BJP released its third list of 28 candidates, giving tickets to as many as 15 Patidar legislators, for Gujarat elections.
BJP, which dropped three sitting ministers, gave tickets to former minister Saurabh Patel from Botad and ex-chief of Gujarat BJP R.C. Faldu from Jamnagar South. Both are from the Patel, or Patidar, community.
