Almost after a decade, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday will visit Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to give more teeth to party’s poll campaign for Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
Thousands of party workers and Congress supporters are expected to take part in her 6-km long road show. During her eight hours stay in Varanasi, she is expected to take on the prime minister and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi had kicked off Congress’ poll campaign in Lucknow a few days ago.
Sonia is likely to visit famous Vishwanath temple for darshan in the evening. She visited Varanasi last time about a decade ago along with then home minister Shivraj Patil after Sankatmochan temple attack in which 20 people were killed.
According to senior Congress leader and chairman of party’s communication department Satyadev Tripathi, the Congress president will land at Babatpur airport around 11 am and will lead a procession of 10,000 bikers from the airport to circuit house. From 1 PM to 3 PM, Sonia will lead a road show, which will begin from circuit house and will culminate at late Congress leader Kamlapati Tripathi’s memorial, where she will address the public.
The Congress president is likely to garland statues of Sardar Patel, Mahatama Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Several senior leaders like the party’s state president Raj Babbar, chief ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit and in-charge of UP affairs Gulam Nabi Azad will accompany her during the road show.
The Congress president during her public address is expected to focus on the ‘lack of development' in prime minister’s constituency. She is also likely to highlight 'failure' of Modi's much hyped 'clean Ganga' project. Plight of rivers in Varanasi may also figure in her speech.
Congress’ poll strategist Pashant Kishore and various senior leaders were toiling hard to make Sonia's road show a grand success.
