Backed by a huge crowd at her roadshow in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Varanasi constituency, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi kick-started her party’s campaign for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, on Tuesday. However, Sonia had to cut short her roadshow and cancel a rally due to flu that she reportedly caught two days ago.
While Modi enquired about Sonia Gandhi’s health, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra Gandhi received their mother at the Delhi airport late on Tuesday night when she returned to the national Capital accompanied by senior Congress leaders.
Sonia’s illness came as a big setback to the party which had put in a lot of hard work to make her programme a mega success because of the association of Varanasi with the Prime Minister.
However, the response that she got earlier in the day, has come as a boost for the party which is struggling to regain its lost glory in a State where it has been out of power for the last 27 years.
The large turnout of Muslims at Sonia’s roadshow will give some serious food for thought to the ruling Samajwadi Party which hopes to return to power by keeping its Muslim-Yadav voter base intact.
For better parts of the roadshow, Sonia stood on the footboard of her SUV or leaned out of the window to accept greetings and garlands. However, the heat and humidity took its toll on the Congress president and the roadshow had to be suspended before it could culminate in a public rally.
After resting at a hotel for almost an hour, Sonia who developed high fever also called off the scheduled visit to the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
Earlier, around 11.20 am, Sonia reached the lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport in Babatpur and headed for the Circuit House from where she was supposed to start her roadshow. But the roadshow virtually began from the airport as thousands of Congress workers, led by local MlA Ajay Rai, thronged the 20 km stretch between the airport and the Circuit House and gave a rousing welcome to the party president.
On arriving at the Circuit House, Congress Sewa Dal members accorded a guard of honor to the party chief. After resting for a while there, Sonia formally began her roadshow at around 2.00 pm accompanied by Uttar Pradesh Congress in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad, State chief Raj Babbar, party’s Chief Ministerial face Sheila Dikshit and chairman of the poll campaign committee Sanjay Singh.
Flanked by leaders and workers in thousands, Sonia waved to the people and reached the Kutchery crossing where she placed flowers at the statue of BR Ambedkar. However, she ‘forgot’ to pay obeisance to the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, located a few yards away.
As the motorcade moved forward, Congress workers joined the roadshow in large numbers and when Sonia reached Raja Bazar, a Muslim-dominated area, women and onlookers showered rose petals on her.
There was an unprecedented turnout of people as the motorcade reached Nakkhi Ghat area after passing through Ghousabad and Chaukaghat with Muslim women lining up on both sides of the road.
People in thousands came in front of her vehicle to have a dekko and shake hands with her. After crossing the lahurabir area, Sonia was taken ill and she had to rest at a hotel. The doctor who attended to her advised her not to discontinue with the roadshow.