LS polls: Top BJP, Congress leaders to campaign in UP today
New Delhi, May 17 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) Political parties have intensified poll campaigns ahead of the last three phases of the Lok Sabha elections. On Friday, top campaigners including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi, Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi, and Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will be in Uttar Pradesh. The Prime Minister is scheduled to address public meetings in Barabanki at 10:00 a.m., Fatehpur at 12 noon, and Hamirpur at 1:00 p.m. From Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Modi will go to Maharashtra to address a rally at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park. In Amethi, the Union Home Minister will hold a public rally at 1:30 p.m. while Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav will address a joint public meeting at around 12:30 p.m. Home Minister Shah will also address a rally in Odisha’s Sundargarh at 3:30 p.m. From there, he will go to Jharkhand to hold a roadshow in Ranchi at 5:15 p.m. Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav will join Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi to jointly address a rally in Raebareli at around 3:00 p.m. In Lucknow, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will address a public meeting while the Samajwadi Party President will hold a roadshow at around 6:00 p.m. Major political developments that will unfold across the country on Friday: * AAP Convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will attend an MVA rally in Mumbai on Friday. * Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will attend the Prime Minister’s rally in Barabanki and then travel to Balrampur to hold a public meeting at 12:50 p.m. followed by another in Milkipur (Ayodhya) at 2:05 p.m. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister will later travel to Bihar to address a rally in Chhapra at 4:15 p.m. In the evening, he will hold a public meeting in Lucknow at 7:00 p.m. * Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Ministers Swatantra Dev Singh and A.K. Sharma will campaign in Gonda. * Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh will address a press conference in Delhi at 12.30 p.m. * Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav will campaign in Raebareli on Friday. —