Rahul to hold 4 rallies in poll-bound Jharkhand from December

Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi will address four elections rallies in poll-bound Jharkhand starting from December 2, party leaders said here on Wednesday.

According to a senior party leader, Rahul Gandhi will kickstart his poll campaign from Simdega in the state, which is going to the polls in five phases starting from November 30 to December 20, results for which will be declared on December 23.

The party leader said that the Gandhi scion will address one rally in each of the four phases starting from the second phase. The Congress, which is in alliance for the assembly polls with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Hemant Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), is contesting on 31 out of 81 seats in the state.

The Congress has released a list of 40 star campaigners for the Jharkhand assembly elections.

The party does not want to repeat the mistake it made in Maharashtra and Haryana, where its lacklustre approach cost the party dear.

The congress is fighting under the leadership of former Chief Minister Hemant Soren.

The ruling BJP is campaigninging aggrresively with Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing two rallies on Monday in the Daltonganj and Gumla districts.

Union Home Minister and BJP President Amit Shah and several other senior BJP leaders have also addressed rallies for their party candidates in the state.

In the 2014 assembly elections, the JMM, Congress and the JVM had formed an alliance. However, the JVM has moved away this time.

The Congress-JMM have aligned with the RJD this time. In the 2014 elections to the 81-member Jharkhand assembly, the BJP had won 37 seats, the JMM got 19, the Congress took six, the AJSU bagged five, the JVM had eight, while the six remaining seats were won by other parties.IANS