Rahul Gandhi in J&K today, to begin party’s election campaign with two rallies

Jammu, Sep 4 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will start the party’s J&K election campaign on Wednesday as he is scheduled to address two election rallies in the union territory. Rahul Gandhi will address one rally each in Jammu and Kashmir for the first phase of the 3-phased Assembly elections. Congress sources said that a special plane carrying Rahul Gandhi will land at Jammu airport at 10 a.m. “From the airport, Rahul Gandhi will take a helicopter for Sangaldan in Ramban district where he will address a Congress rally in support of the party candidate, Vikar Rasool Wani around 11 a.m. Sangaldan forms part of the Banihal Assembly constituency in the Ramban district of the Jammu division. Unable to reach an agreement on seat-sharing on the Banihal seat, both Congress and the National Conference (NC) have fielded candidates from there. Party general secretary, Bharatsinh Solanki and state Congress president Tariq Hameed Karra will accompany Rahul Gandhi during the daylong campaign. From Sangaldan, Gandhi will move to the Dooru Assembly constituency in the Anantnag district of Kashmir. “At 12.30 p.m., Rahulji will address a Congress rally in Dooru Assembly constituency in favour of party candidate, G.A.Mir. These two rallies are the start of a series of Congress star campaigners seeking support for the party candidates. Later, Sonia Gandhiji, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who are among the 40 Congress star campaigners in J&K, will also campaign for the party candidates”, party sources said. Three former JKPCC presidents, Vikar Rasool Wani, G.A.Mir and Peerzada Sayeed are fighting elections in the first phase of J&K elections. Voting for the first phase takes place on September 18. Congress and NC have announced a pre-poll alliance according to which the NC will fight on 52 seats and the Congress on 31 seats. Two seats, one for CPI(M) and one for Panthers party have been left by the alliance. In five seats of Nagrota, Bhaderwah, Banihal and Doda in the Jammu division and Sopore in the Kashmir division both parties will field candidates against each other in what the alliance calls ‘a friendly contest’. J&K has 90 Assembly seats, 47 in Kashmir and 43 in Jammu. Out of these, nine seats are reserved for ST seats and seven are reserved for SC. —