Lok Sabha polls: WANTED—star campaigners in Himachal Pradesh!

HP goes to polls on May 19, the last day of polling in the seven-phase elections

sunny-deol-gurdaspur-pti BJP candidate for Gurdaspur seat Sunny Deol during his election campaign during the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, in Pathankot | PTI

In terms of number of parliamentary constituencies, Himachal Pradesh—with just four—may not be as important as Punjab with 13. Both go to polls on May 19, the last day of polling in the seven-phase elections to Lok Sabha 2019.

The local units of both the BJP and the Congress in Himachal Pradesh, are urging their respective party high command to send star campaigners to ensure a win. And for the BJP, the campaigner in demand is not party president Amit Shah nor the yesteryear television star-turned-politician and Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani who is free from her own campaign in Amethi, which went to polls on May 6.

Sources say the district and the constituency-level campaign committee in charge of the Kangra parliamentary constituency has requested the BJP to organise roadshows or rallies by Gurdaspur candidate and film star Sunny Deol, in parts of Kangra that adjoin his constituency. Nurpur and Indora in the constituency are less than a three-hour drive, they have said, suggesting that the actor just needs to extend his roadshows in his constituency a little bit. There has been no response so far, giving an impression that Deol has enough hard work to do to ensure his own win, before he ventures into seeking support for the BJP in Himachal.

Both Shah and Irani are slated to hold rallies in the state on Sunday. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is also expected to hold a meeting there before the campaign comes to a close, though the venue has not been fixed yet.

Congress plans to organise rallies by former cricketer and Punjab's tourism minister Navjot Singh Sidhu as well as Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi around May 15.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi addressed rallies in the Himalayan state on Friday.