Nehru-Gandhi family scion and the emerging Congress star campaigner Priyanka Gandhi Vadra made a flying visit to her mother's Sonia Gandhi constituency to condole, on behalf of the family, the death of senior Congress leader and district president Uma Shanker Mishra who passed away this morning.
Amid heavy rains that lashed Rae Bareli district, Priyanka reached the Tilak Bhawan , the district party office to pay her floral tributes to the former leader. She stayed just for around 30 minutes in Rae Bareli and again returned back to lucknow to catch flight for New Delhi.
On the occasion she told reporters that Uma Shanker Mishra was closely associated with her family and they have lost a sincere party leader in Rae Bareli. However, Ms Vadra refused to speak anything politics on the occasion when scribes asked her whether she would take active part in the coming assembly polls in the state.
During her brief stay she also interacted with the family members of Uma Shanker Mishra and expressed her condolence. Party sources said "Ms Vadra rushed for Rae Bareli after hearing the news of the death of Mishra, who had held the post of District President here for the past about two decades. Ms Vadra reached lucknow by a service flight in the afternoon and immediately proceeded for Rae Bareli. She reached Rae Bareli at around 3:30 pm and after staying for around 30 minutes she back for lucknow from where she took flight for New Delhi.
Uma Shankar Mishra (93), a close family associate of Gandhi's, died due to heart attack in lucknow at the residence of his son on early Mondaymorning. His body was later shifted to Rae Bareli and kept at the district party office at Tilak Bhawan for the party workers to pay their condolences. later after Ms Vadra left for lucknow, the body was taken for cremation at the Dalmau Ghats along the bank of the Ganga. Several congress leaders who were slated to visit Rae Bareli to offer their condolences could not do so due to heavy rains since Monday morning. A condolence meeting to pay homage to the department soul has been also called here at Party state head quarter in lucknow on Monday afternoon.