Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Manmohan Singh among Congress campaigners for Maharashtra polls

Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be among the star campaigners for the party for next month's Assembly elections in Maharashtra.

"We have to submit a list of 40 star campaigners to the Election Commission and they are in the list," Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said at an event here organised by a private news channel. Speaking about oft-discussed comparison between Maharashtra and Gujarat over growth indicators and investment, Chavan said the former should be compared with European countries and not with any other state in India.

The Congress leader said the "hype" around Gujarat model of development subsided after he openly challenged then Gujarat Chief Minister and now Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a debate on the issue during the Lok Sabha campaign. "When voted back to power, we will work to further improve the State's success in agriculture, horticulture, health, and education. Our endeavour is to provide a clean, transparent, and people-oriented Government."

"People from all over the country come to Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra because there are opportunities. Very few people from Maharashtra go to other States for work," he said in reply to a question.