NEW DELHI: Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and All-India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Rahul Gandhi will lead the Congress election campaign in the upcoming round of Assembly elections in the three key poll-bound states of Maharashtra on the West coast, Haryana in the North and Arunachal Pradesh in the North-East.
Incidentally, all the three states are controlled by the ruling Congress or the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the challenge is to demonstrate that incumbency can be a virtue and that it need not necessarily go against the establishment.
The recent parliamentary elections also showed pro-incumbency voting pattern that has emboldened the Congress leadership.
Retaining power in all the three States, especially after the recent parliamentary elections, has thus become a prestigious issue for the ruling Congress. All the three states are important for the Congress. While controlling Maharashtra entails controlling India’s commercial capital of Mumbai, Haryana is important as it is a state adjacent to the national capital, which has earned the distinction as the second highest in per capita income and third largest exporter of software.
Arunachal Pradesh is a key North-Eastern border state, which is disputed by China, the ruling Congress wants to retain its control over it.
While Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will release the Congress election manifesto for Arunachal Pradesh on Sept. 30, AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi would kickstart the Congress election campaign.
