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Congress president Mallikarjun Khrage, former party chief Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are on the list of 40 star campaigners released by the party for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh.
The other prominent names on the list are senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid, former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Pramod Tiwari, Sachin Pilot, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate. The second phase of voting in the state will be held on April 26. Lashing out at the INDIA bloc, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the people of Uttar Pradesh and the OBC community need to be aware of the "dangerous game" played by the Opposition parties of trying to 'snatch" their reservation rights and give it to their "vote banks". His remarks come in the wake of the row that erupted after the National Commission for Backward Castes pointed out that the Karnataka government has categorised the entire Muslim community in the state under the OBC category causing 'injustice' to the people of the OBC community. Taking a jibe at the Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance, PM Modi said that the foundation of friendship between the two boys in UP (Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav) is "appeasement politics. "Addressing a public meeting in Agra on Thursday, PM Modi said, "Remember in 2012, right before the UP Assembly polls, Congress had tried something similar. They had tried to give a part of the OBC reservation to minorities on the basis of religion. But they couldn't succeed in their intentions." As per the seat agreement between the Samajwadi Party and Congress in Uttar Pradesh, Congress is contesting on 17 seats and the Samajwadi Party has the remaining 63 seats in the electorally crucial state. In Uttar Pradesh in the 2019 general elections, the BJP emerged triumphant, securing 62 out of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh, supplemented by two seats clinched by its ally Apna Dal (S). Mayawati's BSP managed to secure 10 seats, while Akhilesh Yadav's SP garnered five. The Congress Party secured only one seat. Uttar Pradesh sends the maximum number of MPs, 80 in total, to Parliament. The first phase of voting in the state has already taken place on April 19. The remaining Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh will cast their votes in the subsequent phases of the election, namely, Phase 2 on April 26, Phase 3 on May 7, Phase 4 on May 13, Phase 5 on May 20, Phase 6 on May 25, and Phase 7 on June 1. The counting of votes will occur on June 4. (ANI)
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