Sonia to skip rally in Nagpur, will hold road show

Congress President Sonia Gandhi will not address a campaign rally and instead hold a road show here where Union Minister of state for new and renewable energy and six time Congress MP, Vilas Muttemwar is seeking his fourth term.  

Sonia will be on a whirlwind tour of Vidarbha region on April 10 to campaign for Congress-NCP candidates starting from Lakhani for senior NCP leader Praful Patel in Bhandara-Gondia constituency in the morning. She will then proceed to Chandrapur to address public meeting there where senior Congress leader Naresh Pugalia is contesting.  

Her third public meeting will be in Washim, where former BJP MP Harisingh Rathod who subsequently joined Congress after saving Congress led UPA government during trust vote in Parliament, is contesting from newly carved out Yavatmal-Washim constituency, party sources said.  

Sonia will address her last campaign rally in Vidarbha for All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Mukul Wasnik who is nominated from Ramtek reserved constituency (SC) at Kamptee. After finishing rally at Kamptee which is about 15 km from city , Sonia will hold a road show and is likely to cover all the assembly segments of Nagpur Lok Sabha seat.

Disappointment is prevailing among Congress rank and file with Sonia not addressing public meetings, as BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate, L K Advani and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi have already addressed rallies here, sources close to Congress said here.

If Sonia Gandhi skips Nagpur rally, it will be a big blow to the Congress workers' morale and enthusiasm, they said.

Meanwhile City Congress president Jaiprakash Gupta told PTI that her road show was confirmed and as per the present schedule, she will address meeting at Kamptee.