Manipur elections: Sonia Gandhi to headline Congress' campaign alongside 29 star netas

In a bid to strengthen Congress’ campaign in the poll-bound Manipur, the Indian National Congress will field 30-star campaigners, who will be pushing the party’s agenda for the second phase of the state polls scheduled for March 05. Congress on Monday released the list of 30-star campaigners for Manipur, which included former state CM Okram Ibobi Singh, Congress top brass- Sonia Gandhi & Rahul Gandhi and party’s youth leader Kanhaiya Kumar.

Manipur Elections: Sonia Gandhi to campaign for the second phase

Interestingly, interim Congress President Sonia Gandhi will be campaigning for the first time in the ongoing polls in Manipur. Sonia Gandhi hasn’t conducted a single rally in UP, Uttarakhand, Goa and Punjab to date for the ongoing 2022 assembly polls.

The 30 personalities who have been entrusted with campaigning for the grand old party are- Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Bhakta Charan Das, Jairam Ramesh, Ibobi Singh, Gaikhangam, N. Loken Singh, T.N. Haokip, M. Okendro, Dr Thokchom Meinya, Rakibul Hussain, K. Meghachandra Singh, I. Hemochandra Singh, T. Mangibabu Singh, Dr Kh. Ratankumar Singh, Km. Ak Mirabai Devi, K. Ranjit Singh, Alfred K. Arthur, Vidyapati Senjam, Kh. Devabrata Singh, R.K. Anand, Imran Pratapgarhi, Netta D' Souza, Kanhaiya Kumar, Gaurav Krishna Ch. Shashtri, L. Tilotama, Samina Begum, Mutum Sarma Devi, N. Mahananda.
 

It is pertinent to note that Congress is putting extra efforts to woo the people in the North-Eastern state as the party had emerged as the single largest entity in 2017 with the highest number of seats, but wasn’t able to form the government. Congress is ambitious to bag a farther number of seats than the last time and pull the BJP-led coalition government out of power. 

The state will be going to polls in two phases, the first scheduled on Feb 28 and the second phase voting will be held on March 5.

 2017 Manipur Elections favoured Congress, yet BJP rose to power

Manipur will be electing new faces to its 60 membered Legislative Assembly, forming a new government that will be ruling the state for the coming five years. The north-eastern state is currently ruled by the CM N Biren Singh-led BJP as the party rose to power for the first time in the state after forming an alliance with the regional factions in 2017. 

In the 2017 Manipur Assembly election, Congress emerged as the single-largest party by winning 28 seats in the 60-member House whereas BJP bagged 21 seats. Despite Congress' victory, BJP thwarted its plans of forming a government by forging a post-poll alliance with the National People's Party, the Naga People's Front and LJP.

Image: PTI