Congress leaders Rahul, Priyanka and Kharge likely to campaign in Bihar soon

Patna, Apr 09 (PTI) Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, besides the party’s national president, Mallikarjun Kharge, are likely to campaign in Bihar later this month, a senior leader said on Wednesday. State Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh said this while replying to queries at a press conference that he addressed here jointly with AICC Bihar in-charge Mohan Prakash here on Wednesday. “Rahul ji, Priyanka ji and Kharge ji are likely to visit Bihar on April 19 or 20. The exact date will be known soon. They will canvass in the three seats where our candidates are in the fray”, the BPCC president said.

Notably, the Congress, which has an alliance with the RJD and the Left in Bihar, is contesting nine out of the state’s 40 Lok Sabha seats, three of which go to polls in the second phase. Singh said the Congress heavyweights were likely to launch their campaign from Kishanganj, the lone seat in Bihar where Muslims are in a majority, and where the party has been winning since 2009 general elections. “The leaders would, thereafter, campaign in Katihar and Bhagalpur”, said the Bihar Congress president.

While sitting MP Mohd Javed is seeking re-election from Kishanganj, former Union minister Tariq Anwar seeks to wrest back Katihar, which he had lost to BJP-led NDA five
years ago.

In Bhagalpur, a seat which the Congress is contesting after more than two decades, the party has fielded Ajeet Sharma, the MLA from the eponymous assembly seat.

Prakash voiced anguish over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charge that the party’s manifesto bore “imprint of Muslim League”. He alleged, “Clearly, Modi likes to speak without bothering to read the manifesto. He should, however, read resolutions passed by the RSS, the BJP’s parent organisation, which read the same as those of the Muslim League”.