Hours before the programme ahead of Monday’s state polls, a senior party leader said that the interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi will not address the election rally in Haryana’s Mahendergarh on Friday. Congress has not yet stated any official reason for the development, although as per some sources, she decided to stay away owing to ill-health. A party leader confirmed that her son and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi will step in instead.
Rahul to step in Election rally in Haryana Today
Reportedly, the last campaign outing for Ms. Gandhi was in 2017 for the U.P. Assembly polls in Varanasi. During the roadshow then, she fell violently ill and has stayed away from rallies and public meetings ever since. The Mahendragarh rally was the only one that Ms. Gandhi was scheduled to attend this election season.
This would have been her first rally after she took over the reins of the Congress party in August following her son Rahul Gandhi’s resignation owning responsibility for the drubbing in this year’s Lok Sabha polls.
Earlier, the Haryana Congress announced the decision on Twitter but later deleted the tweet. The party’s deleted tweet had said “Shri @RahulGandhi Ji will be addressing a public meeting at Mahendragarh today, at 2 PM. @INCIndia President Smt. Sonia Gandhi Ji will not be able to attend the meeting due to unavoidable reasons (sic).”
Haryana Election Live Updates
Even as the BJP is carpet-bombing Haryana with back-to-back rallies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the Gandhi family is hardly visible in the State. Mr. Gandhi has attended only one rally so far, while his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has stayed away.
Congress candidate Rao Daan Singh is contesting against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister Ram Bilas Sharma in Mahendergarh. The campaigning in Haryana and Maharashtra will come to a close on October 19. The election will be held on October 21 and votes will be counted three days later on October 24.
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