Sonia Gandhi's flight to Delhi deferred due to bad weather

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had to overstay in Raebareli Wednesday night as their plane could not leave for Delhi due to bad weather in the national capital, officials said.

Sonia Gandhi had arrived here with her daughter Priyanka in the morning for the first time after her victory in the recent Lok Sabha polls to thank her voters.

"The private flight was scheduled to take off at 8 pm from the Fursatganj airport on Amethi-Raebareli border but due to the bad weather condition in Delhi, it has been rescheduled for 9 am Thursday morning," Fursatganj police station in-charge S K Rai told PTI.

The Congress leaders will be spending the night at the Bhuyemau guest house in Rae Bareli.

The mother-daughter duo this time skipped visiting adjoining Amethi from where Congress chief Rahul Gandhi lost to BJP's Smriti Irani in the Lok Sabha elections.

Congress was able to retain Raebareli -- the only seat it won in Uttar Pradesh -- with Sonia Gandhi defeating BJP's Dinesh Pratap Singh by a margin of 1,67,178 votes.