Cong Claims Plot To Kill Sonia Foiled

The Congress yesterday claimed that the police have unearthed a plot to assassinate Sonia Gandhi by blowing up the stage from where she addressed one of her election rallies in Madhya Pradesh.

Party spokesperson Najma Heptullah, however, failed to satisfy journalists who showered her with questions on the alleged plot.

Heptullah said the plot was uncovered by the Madhya Pradesh police when they investigated a case of homicide after they discovered a body at a railway track. A search at the residence of the deceased, identified as A V Raju, revealed the plot.

The deceased was said to have drawn up a detailed sketch of Sonia Gandhis meeting site, and had identified the exact place (under the stage) where he was to plant a bomb. He had also written her name in a way, according to Heptullah, that it was apparant that his intention was to assassinate the Congress star campaigner.

 

However, Heptullah could not give satisfy newsmen who wondered why the alleged plot not revealed earlier when the body and the plot itself was discovered, according to Heptullah, two days ago. Also, she could not answer why the party did not withdraw Sonia Gandhi from the campaign after the plot came to light.

Sonia Gandhi, however, did cancel the second and last leg of her campaign in three West Bengal districts as her helicopter could not land due to inclement weather, an agency report said.

from Calcutta, quoting the police said.

Sonia Gandhi, who was to campaign at Narghat in Midnapore, Diamond Harbour in South 24 Parganas and Serampore in Hooghly, had to return to the N S C Bose international airport at Calcutta after her election meeting at Bhadrak in Orissa.