Congress’ Star Campaigners List for Punjab Polls Excludes GN Azad, Manish Tewari

Manish Tewari said that he would've been surprised if his name was in the list.

The names of both Ghulam Nabi Azad and MP Manish Tewari were missing from the list.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/ghulamnazad/ManishTewari)

Two weeks before Punjab begins polling for the Assembly elections, Punjab Congress released its list of star campaigners for the state, which did not include senior leaders such as Padma Bhushan awardee Ghulam Nabi Azad and Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari.

The list, comprising 30 people, includes Sonia Gandhi, Dr Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and national Youth Congress President BV Srinivas among other notable party members.

The party's joint secretary shared the star campaigners' list.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/gbutail)

Tewari is the state's sole Hindu MP from Punjab's Sri Anandpur Sahib.

Tewari and Azad are among the prominent 'G-23' or Group-23 leaders in the Congress, who wrote to then interim party chief Sonia Gandhi in August 2020 requesting an overhaul within the party and immediate, active leadership in view of the party's failures at elections.

Notably, other G-23 members such as Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Anand Sharma were included in the list.

Other star campaigners include Punjab Congress Committee Chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, Chief Ministers Charanjit Singh Channi, Bhupesh Baghel and Ashok Gehlot.

Meanwhile, Azad's name has been included in the Congress's list of star campaigners for Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

'Would've Been Surprised if My Name Was There': Tewari

Reacting to the exclusion, Tewari told news agency ANI that he was not surprised. "I'd have been surprised had my name been there...everyone knows the reason. As far as Hindu-Sikh is concerned, it has never been an issue in Punjab," he said.

"I would have been surprised if it would have been the other way round," Tewari said in response to former Congress MP Abhijit Mukherjee's tweet, who described the exclusion as a "sad state of affairs," adding that "such narrow minded steps will never help Congress to win elections! (sic)"

Mukherjee is the son of the late former President Pranab Mukherjee and had joined the Trinamool Congress in 2021.

The Congress party in Punjab had dealt with infighting over the last year, which led to former CM Captain Amarinder Singh stepping down from his post due to differences with the state's party President Navjot Singh Sidhu. The tiff made way for the state's first Dalit Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi.

The state starts polling on 20 February and the votes will be counted on 10 March. Congress is yet to announce its name for the their chief ministerial candidate in Punjab, but is expected to do so shortly.

Azad’s Name Included in List of Star Campaigners for Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh Congress' Twitter account shared the list of 30 star campaigners for the poll-bound state, which included Ghulam Nabi Azad's name.

Azad's name was included in the Uttar Pradesh star campaigners' list.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/INCUttarPradesh)

This list saw Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi's names at the top and also included Chief Ministers Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel.

Additions to this list included Azad, state Congress President Ajay Kumar Lallu, former Union Minister Salman Khurshid, Maharashtra Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad, Rajasthan deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, and national spokesperson Supriya Shrinate.