Rahul to address three rallies, Priyanka to hold two road shows in HP

Congress president Rahul Gandhi will address three rallies, while party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will hold two road shows in Himachal Pradesh, a party leader said on Thursday.

All four Lok Sabha seats-- Shimla (SC), Mandi, Hamirpur and Kangra-- in the state will vote in the seventh and last phase of the ongoing general elections on May 19.

Himachal Pradesh Congress affairs in-charge Rajni Patil said that Rahul Gandhi will address a rally each in Una, Solan and Mandi and Priyanka Gandhi will be wooing the voters of Theog and Sundernagar with her grand road shows, Patil said.

The Congress chief will address his first rally in Una on May 10 in support of party's Hamirpur candidate Ram Lal Thakur, who is pitted against the sitting BJP MP Anurag Thakur, a three-time parliamentarian from the constituency.

Ram Lal is the Congress MLA from Sri Naina Deviji assembly segment.

However, the dates for his Solan (Shimla Lok Sabha seat) and Mandi rallies are yet to be finalised, Patil said, adding that they are likely to be held on May 15 and 16.

Similarly, the tentative date of Priyanka Gandhi's road shows is May 17. The dates will be finalised soon, she said further.

However, one thing is for sure that Rahul will address a rally and Priyanka will hold a road show in Mandi Lok Sabha seat from where former Union minister Sukh Ram's grandson Aashray Sharma is in the fray against BJP's sitting MP Ramswaroop Sharma, Patil said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is already scheduled to address his maiden election rally in Mandi on May 10 in support of Sharma.

The Mandi Lok Sabha seat is one of the most talked about seats in the state as BJP MLA Anil Sharma's son Aashray Sharma is fighting the Lok Sabha polls as a Congress candidate. Anil recently resigned from the Himachal Pradesh cabinet.

Aashray Sharma had sought a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket from Mandi but after it was denied, he, along with his grandfather Sukh Ram, rejoined the Congress.

Being his home district, Himachal chief minister Jai Ram Thakur's prestige is also at stake on the Mandi Lok Sabha seat.