Sonia springs surprise, comes to Allahabad on "private" visit

Congress president Sonia Gandhi arrived here this evening on a "private visit", taking local party leaders by surprise.
Gandhi, who is likely to spend the night at the historic 'Swaraj Bhavan' - where former Prime Minister and her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi was born, came to Allahabad from Rae Bareli, her Lok Sabha constituency, which she had been touring for the past couple of days.
"We were taken by surprise as although a team of the Special Protection Group (SPG) had arrived in the city earlier this week for her proposed visit, we had been informed yesterday that she has cancelled her Allahabad tour in view of security problems on the crowded Basant Panchmi Day", UPCC spokesman Kishore Varshney told PTI.

"She is learnt to have held meetings with those involved in the running of the Kamla Nehru Hospital, the Jawahar Planetarium and the 'Anand Bhawan' museum, all of which are managed by trusts headed by her.
After spending the night at the 'Swaraj Bhawan', she is likely to fly back to New Delhi early tomorrow morning", Varshney said.
"Some time back, she had expressed a desire to meet the Shankaracharya of Dwarka Swami Saroopananda Saraswati - who is camping at the Magh Mela religious congregation near the holy Sangam.
"That did not materialise since the Uttar Pradesh government expressed its inability to provide security arrangements for her visit to the Mela ground, where huge crowds gather during the month-long congregation", Varshney claimed.

"This is only the third occasion, after her entry into active politics, when Soniaji is spending the night at the 'Swaraj Bhavan'. The last time she did so was in 2002, while she was campaigning for the state Assembly elections", Varshney added.