Today in Politics: Kejriwal to ramp up Punjab campaign in five-day blitz, Rahul gets set for Himachal push

To begin with, Kejriwal will on Sunday morning attend a town hall meeting in Ferozepur followed by a rally in Hoshiarpur in the afternoon and a roadshow in Bathinda in the evening. On Monday morning, Kejriwal will participate in a town hall meeting in Amritsar.

“During his stay in Punjab, Kejriwal will visit all 13 Lok Sabha constituencies. He will leave on May 30, the last day of campaigning,” an AAP leader said, as Kanchan Vasdev and Raakhi Jagga reports.

The AAP has only a few star campaigners in Punjab. So, CM Mann has been crisscrossing the state to campaign for the party’s candidates.

Soon after being released from Tihar Jail on May 10 on an interim bail granted by the Supreme Court, Kejriwal visited Punjab for a day but remained mostly in Delhi so far. He had been in the prison for nearly 50 days in connection with the Delhi excise policy case.

All 13 seats of Punjab are going to polls in the seventh and last phase on June 1. The ruling AAP has been facing stiff challenges from the principal Opposition Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the BJP in the state.

Significantly, the AAP and the Congress could not hammer out a seat-sharing arrangement in Punjab despite being members of the Opposition INDIA bloc and allies in Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat in the current polls.

With the BJP and the SAD also failing to revive their 25-year-long past association with an alliance for the ongoing polls, the state is set up for a four-cornered contest.

Shah, Rajnath, Priyanka in Punjab

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will arrive in Ludhiana on Sunday evening to address a rally for BJP candidate Ravneet Singh Bittu, while Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Bathinda on Sunday afternoon to address a rally for BJP nominee Parampal Kaur Sidhu Maluka.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will on Sunday campaign for the Congress candidates in Punjab, addressing rallies in Fatehgarh Sahib and Patiala. She will also address a rally in Chandigarh in support of Congress candidate Manish Tewari.

PM Modi in UP

Continuing his extensive campaigning in Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold rallies in Mirzapur, Ghosi and Bansgaon. These are the constituencies that will go to polls in the seventh phase.

Rahul in HP

Top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will kick off his campaign in the party-ruled Himachal Pradesh on Sunday, addressing rallies in Shimla and Hamirpur.

In Himachal, the four Lok Sabha seats and six Assembly bypolls will be held on June 1.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had swept the state, winning all four seats. However, in the November 2022 Assembly elections, the Congress had clinched the polls to return to power in the hill state.

Kharge in Bihar

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is campaigning in Bihar Sunday. He will first address a public meeting at Bhabhua in Sasaram. Later in the day, he will hold a town hall in Patna.