Rahul Gandhi to launch Lok Sabha poll campaign for Tamil Nadu on March 13

CHENNAI; Congress president Rahul Gandhi will launch his party’s poll campaign for Tamil Nadu on March 13. This will be his first campaign for the Lok Sabha election in the State.

Chairing the party’s advisory committee meeting here on Saturday, TNCC chief KS Alagiri said the venue for the rally would be announced on Sunday. “This will be the first political rally in the State for the upcoming Lok Sabha election,” he added.

Former TNCC president Su Thirunavukkarasar, who now heads the party’s poll campaign committee, said that he had discussed about the strategy with the party seniors. “How to expedite the poll campaign and take it to the people’s hearts besides how to reply to the charges of the BJP and other opposition parties were discussed at the meeting elaborately,” he said.

Speaking to reporters here on Saturday, Thirunavukkarasar said separate election campaign committees would be formed for each of the 21 Assembly constituencies which would face the by-election. After holding the meeting at his party State headquarters - Sathyamurthy Bhavan, he said the Congress would also disseminate information about its achievements. Accordingly, committees would be formed at all the districts, he added.

Ahead of this rally, on March 6, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would address a massive rally along with the alliance leaders in Chennai. While the Congress has announced its first poll rally, it would allow the DMK to decide on a joint campaign, say sources.

Meanwhile, the opposition DMK’s attempts to rope in Vijayakanth’s DMDK into its camp may not fructify if the words of the BJP is to be believed. “The AIADMK’s alliance with the DMDK will be finalised on Monday,” Tamilisai Soundararajan, BJP state president has claimed. She asserted that the DMDK was taking its own time just as any party would while deciding on the alliance.