NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: The Congress on Friday released the list of its star campaigners for the first phase of the Bengal Assembly elections. Prominent faces among the Congress star campaigners are Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
It is the first time that Congress General Secretary Priyanka will be campaigning for the party outside Uttar Pradesh, apart from Delhi and Chhattisgarh where she had campaigned for the Assembly polls.
The other star campaigners are Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel.
Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Congress General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala are also in the campaigners list. Two former cricketers Navjot Singh Sidhu and Mohammad Azharuddin have also been named by the grand old party.
The Congress is contesting on 92 seats in West Bengal in alliance with the Communist Party Of India (Marxist) and the Indian Secular Front (ISF). From the local leaders A.H. Khan Choudhury, Deepa Dasmunshi and Pradeep Bhattacharya are in the Congress list of star campaigners.
The Congress during the 2016 Assembly polls had contested on 92 seats and won 44, of which nearly 20 MLAs defected to the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC). The Congress is the second largest party in the outgoing state Assembly holding the Leader of Opposition's post. (IANS)