BJP eyes 3 seats in Jammu, Ladakh for top campaigners

JAMMU: The BJP is going all out to campaign in the three seats in Jammu and Ladakh where it is hopeful of winning and has lined up nearly 40 of its star campaigners to bolster its chances.

Jammu and Kashmir will witness five-phase polls from April 10 to May 7. Five chief ministers, three film stars and 11 national leaders like L K Advani, Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari have been entrusted with the task of campaigning in J-K.

Although the party has put up candidates for all six seats in J-K, its focus is on the three constituencies of Jammu, Udhampur and Ladakh where most of its intensive campaigning will be concentrated. While the party's Prime Ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, officially kicked off BJP's campaign in Kathua district on March 26, actors Vinod Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha, Hema Malini and Smriti Irani, too, will pitch in during canvassing in J-K.

The BJP is focussing particularly on the Udhampur Lok Sabha seat where the Congress has fielded Union minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. This is the first time Azad is fighting a Lok Sabha battle in his home state and the BJP would be looking to ensure that its candidate, Jitendra Singh, humiliates the Congress leader. Jitendra Singh is a popular diabetologist.

In the Jammu seat, BJP state president Jugal Kishore Sharma is facing sitting Congress MP, Madan Lal Sharma and PDP's Yashpaul Sharma.Madan Lal has twice won the Jammu Lok Sabha seat, in 2004 and 2009, and is also a two-time MLA and a former state minister.

In Ladakh, it is a direct contest between former Chief Executive Councillor, Ladakh Hill Autonomous Development Council, Thupsthan Chawang of BJP and former Congress MLA T Samphel."Pushing in such a large number of BJP star campaigners is to ensure that we make Modi the prime minister," a senior leader said.