When Sonia Gandhi Crashed at Low Budget ‘Hotel Modern’ in Varanasi

When she complained of weakness & said she needed a room, the owner of Hotel Modern came to Sonia Gandhi’s rescue.

Sonia Gandhi at the Varanasi road show (Photo: The Quint)

At 4:30 PM on 3 August, Hotel Modern in Varanasi had a guest it would never have expected. When Sonia Gandhi tumbled in to use the loo, and decided to stay on in a room to recuperate from the blazing sun that had hit her during the Varanasi road show, Surendra Singh, the owner, couldn’t believe his eyes.

(Photo Courtesy: Travelguru/Hotel Modern Varanasi)

Room 102 had not been empty, but when Sonia Gandhi complained of weakness and said she needed a room, Singh entered the room with a master key and vacated it for her.

After she came out of the washroom, they pointed at room no. 102 and enquired whether there was an AC in it. Then they asked us to open it. But we found that the guest had not deposited the key at the reception. So, we opened it with the master key

Surendra Singh told <i>The Telegraph</i>

The room where Sonia spent about a good two hours before catching her flight back to Delhi was barely 10ft x 12 ft.

Each room per night typically costs between Rs 500-1000. The room, though described as ‘spacious’ on Travel Guru, was cluttered with a double bed, two chairs, a table and a cupboard that ate into its space. The room had a 4ft x 6ft attached washroom and an air conditioner as well as a ceiling fan.

(Photo Courtesy: Travelguru/Hotel Modern Varanasi)

A team of doctors landed up at the hotel within ten minutes of Sonia Gandhi’s arrival for a checkup, and she left the hotel for the airport at about 6:45 P.M. In case you’re wondering, the original occupant did not return to the hotel in the interim.

Sonia was taken to the Army Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi, and was then shifted to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. She is reported to be “dehydrated but stable” and has been “advised rest”, according to a medical bulletin.

AccuWeather.com said that the day of the roadshow felt like 42 degrees Celsius. Many others too fell sick. Rajesh Mishra, former Congress MP, fainted at the Lahurabir crossing, and Vibhuti Narayan Pandey, a Congress worker from Azamgarh, fell unconscious near the Ambedkar Park.

(Source: The Telegraph, Calcutta)