Sonia, Rahul to campaign in Jammu

Jammu, March 29 (IANS) Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and party general secretary Rahul Gandhi will visit Jammu and Kashmir to campaign for Congress candidates in the Lok Sabha polls.

Congress party sources told IANS that both will campaign in Jammu and Udhampur parliamentary constituencies of the Jammu region. The party could win only 13 assembly seats in the November-December 2008 state poll, two down from the number won in the 2002 poll.

Both Rahul and Sonia Gandhi had campaigned for the party during the state poll, with the Congress chief visiting the state twice and Rahul once.

The dates for their visits now are yet to be decided.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh has already campaigned in Jammu, and the party also plans to bring TV star Smriti Irani.

The regional Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which is contesting all the state's six seats, has already started its campaign. Party patron and former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has kicked off the party campaign in the Jammu region and promised equitable empowerment of the state's three regions.