Regional leaders to be face of poll campaigns
New Delhi, March 25, 2016, DHNS:
Just as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign has been scaled down in the upcoming Assembly elections, top Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul, too, are expected to limit their rallies.
It will be the regional leaders—Tarun Gogoi in Assam and Oommen Chandy in Kerala—who will be face of the campaign for the Assembly elections in their respective states.
Even in West Bengal, where the Congress is playing second fiddle to the Left Front, regional leaders such as state unit president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Deepa Dasmunsi among others would spearhead the campaign targeting in Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The Congress is battling anti-incumbency in Assam and Kerala and hopes to benefit if the polls throw up a hung verdict. In West Bengal, it hopes to benefit from the informal alliance the Congress has entered into with the Left Front. In Tamil Nadu, the Congress has struck an alliance with the DMK and is keen to shed the “5% party’ tag it has earned by watching the Dravidian parties power play from the fringes.
“The Congress president and vice-president will campaign, but we also have strong regional leaders in some states,” a senior leader said.
Besides Assam, the BJP has little hopes of making any significant gains in West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Though Modi is expected to reserve his energies for Assam, the BJP has already declared Union Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal as the chief ministerial candidate.
BJP planners have already conceded that its campaign in the poll-bound states would be muted in comparison with the one Bihar, where the prime minister had become the face of the poll blitz. In Assam, the recent debate over “nationalism” and the incidents at universities in Hyderabad and Delhi are expected to dominate the campaign.
It will be the regional leaders—Tarun Gogoi in Assam and Oommen Chandy in Kerala—who will be face of the campaign for the Assembly elections in their respective states.
Even in West Bengal, where the Congress is playing second fiddle to the Left Front, regional leaders such as state unit president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Deepa Dasmunsi among others would spearhead the campaign targeting in Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The Congress is battling anti-incumbency in Assam and Kerala and hopes to benefit if the polls throw up a hung verdict. In West Bengal, it hopes to benefit from the informal alliance the Congress has entered into with the Left Front. In Tamil Nadu, the Congress has struck an alliance with the DMK and is keen to shed the “5% party’ tag it has earned by watching the Dravidian parties power play from the fringes.
“The Congress president and vice-president will campaign, but we also have strong regional leaders in some states,” a senior leader said.
Besides Assam, the BJP has little hopes of making any significant gains in West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Though Modi is expected to reserve his energies for Assam, the BJP has already declared Union Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal as the chief ministerial candidate.
BJP planners have already conceded that its campaign in the poll-bound states would be muted in comparison with the one Bihar, where the prime minister had become the face of the poll blitz. In Assam, the recent debate over “nationalism” and the incidents at universities in Hyderabad and Delhi are expected to dominate the campaign.
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