Sonia, Rahul, Kanhaiya among Cong's 30 star campaigners

New Delhi: As the poll date for the first phase of the assembly election in Uttar Pradesh is coming closer, the Congress on Monday released its first list of 30 star campaigners to campaign for the grand old party in the high-stake election beginning from February 10.

As per the list released by the party's general secretary KC Venugopal, the party has named Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Gulam Nabi Azad, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel, former JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar, etc as the star campaigners to amplify the party's poll promises while the campaigning in the high-stake election.

Kanhaiya, who had joined the Congress in September last year, would be campaigning for the grand old party ahead of a key assembly election after he jumped ship from the Communist Party of India (CPI) amid a huge criticism last year.

The other leaders who have been declared as star campaigners of the party include UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Salman Khurshid, Raj Babbar, PL Punia, RPN Singh, Deepender Singh Hooda, Hardik Patel, etc.

The list of the star campaigners has been sent to the chief electoral officer of Uttar Pradesh.

Notably, the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections will be held in seven phases, starting from February 10 and ending on March 7. The polling in Uttar Pradesh will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27, and March 3 and 7.

Last week, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had also released its list of 30 campaigners for the UP assembly elections. Given that Election Commission has put a ban on political rallies due to the spread of Covid-19, the parties are likely to hit the campaign trail in Uttar Pradesh in a phased-out manner, including door-to-door campaigning and closed-door meetings.