Sonia to campaign on April 25

MANGALORE: AICC chairperson Sonia Gandhi's tryst with the coastal district and Malnad on the election campaign trail has been advanced by a day. Sonia will arrive here on April 25 instead of April 26. The local party leadership is gearing up to make her visit a success and all senior leaders, including party nominees from the two coastal districts, will be present on the occasion, KPCC secretary Ivan D'Souza said on Saturday. While Sonia's visit will give necessary impetus to the party's campaign in the coastal region, Ivan said the party workers have already completed ward and gram panchayat-level campaigning on behalf of the party nominees. "We have now embarked on house-to-house visits," Ivan said, adding that two more rounds of door-to-door campaign involving party nominees and workers will be undertaken in the run up to the May 5 polls. With the Congress manifesto scheduled to be released on April 22, Ivan said the workers will visit houses, explaining the same to the voters as part of the strategy outlined for these polls. The party has also named senior party workers as conveners and co-conveners for all eight assembly constituencies in Dakshina Kannada district and they have been directed to submit feedback on the ongoing campaign every third day to the party leadership. This will help the party analyze and re-strategize or change its focus to send across a clear message to the voters on the need to support the party, Ivan said. He claimed that there is pro-Congress wave and the party will win all the eight assembly constituencies in the district. The youth connect with the party too is an encouraging sign for the party leaders, he added.