Taking the battle to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s turf, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday led a massive roadshow here kicking off the party’s campaign for the 2017 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh where it has been out of power for nearly three decades.
69-year-old Gandhi, however, had to cut short the roadshow towards the end of the eight-km march route this evening after she fell ill as it wound through the streets of the temple town for nearly three hours.
Congress sources said Gandhi cancelled her planned visit to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in the evening to offer prayers and was returning to Delhi. The sources said that Gandhi was suffering from viral fever but had decided to go ahead with the roadshow as she was not inclined to cancel it at the last minute. Modi prayed for Gandhi’s quick recovery and good health.
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Sources said Gandhi complained of uneasiness and after taking rest for sometime, she left the area.
Thousands of Congress supporters and workers took part in the roadshow.
It was Gandhi’s first visit to Varanasi after Modi became Prime Minister in May 2014.
Congress has been out of power for 27 years in Uttar Pradesh and is projecting that the state has gone from bad to worse in these years through a campaign, called ‘27 Saal, UP Behaal’. (Inputs: PTI)
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