Narendra Modi, Sonia Gandhi to hit campaign trail in Kerala in early May

Thiruvananthapuram: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party vice president Rahul Gandhi will be among a battery of top national leaders who will hit the campaign trail in Kerala to woo voters for the May 16 Assembly elections.

While BJP sources said the exact date of Modi's visit to the state for poll campaign has not been finalised yet as Parliament session is starting tomorrow, Sonia Gandhi will address rallies in Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur on May 9.

A hectic schedule has been drawn up for Rahul Gandhi who will be in the state on May 12.

He will crisscross four districts in a helicopter to address conventions at Kayamkulam, Angamally, Udumbanchola and Kozhikode, Congress sources said.

BJP, which has launched a do-or-die battle this time to open its account in the state Assembly, will see its national President Amit Shah along with Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Nirmala Sitharaman and Smriti Irani, addressing several meetings.

The saffron party has forged an alliance with Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), a political party launched by the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP), an organisation of backward Ezhava community, led by its General secretary Vellapally Natesan.

BJP-led NDA alliance is putting up a triangular fight in most of the 140 Assembly constituencies in Kerala which hitherto had witnessed a bi-polar contest between the ruling Congress-led UDF and opposition CPI(M)-led LDF.

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, Politburo members Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat and Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar will be among the top national leaders to campaign in the state, where 93-year-old old V S Achutanandan is still the star campaigner for the Left front.

Senior Congress leader and CWC member A K Antony will begin his campaign tour from the northern Kasaragod district on May 1 and end at Thiruvananthapuram on May 14. He will be addressing poll meetings in all the 14 districts.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who is the Congress-UDF candidate from Puthupally in Kottayam district, will also be addressing 14 rallies in all the 14 districts, starting from Kasaragod on Apr 26.

Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, who is trying is luck from Haripad, will begin his tour from April 27 from the state capital and conclude on May 7 at Alapuzha.

Kerala PCC President V M Sudheeran will kick off his campaign from Ernakulam tomorrow and end in Palakkad on May 8.