Sonia Gandhi to skip election rally in at last minute in India

Rahul Gandhi will fill in for Sonia Gandhi at the Haryana election rally. (PTI photo). Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency.

NEW DELHI, Oct 18, 2019, India Today. The first and only election rally that Sonia Gandhi was supposed to address in this election season will now be addressed by her son and former party president Rahul Gandhi. Congress announced at the last minute before the Mahendergarh rally on Friday that Sonia Gandhi will not be attending the rally ahead of the Haryana assembly elections on Monday, reported the India Today.

Sources say Sonia Gandhi is skipping the election rally over her ailing health.

The Mahendergarh election rally was supposed to be the first election rally that Sonia Gandhi was expected to address after she was appointed the interim president of the party that delved into a deep crisis following the Lok Sabha elections.

Congress General Secretary and Haryana in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad, former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the party’s state president Kumari Selja and many local leaders, and candidates are expected to be present at this public meeting.

After announcing the rally, Congress on Monday morning posted a tweet announcing the change of plans. However the @INCIndia Twitter handle later deleted the tweet.

“Shri @RahulGandhi ji will be addressing a public meeting at Mahendragarh today, at 2 PM. @INCIndia President Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji will not be able to attend the meeting due to unavoidable reasons (sic),” said Congress in its deleted tweet.

Sonia Gandhi, who had bowed out as the Congress president to make way for Rahul Gandhi to take over as the party president has again been brought back as the party chief following her son’s decision to quit the post.

The Mahendergarh rally was touted as the first election rally Sonia Gandhi would address after being reappointed as the interim Congress president.

Share it


Exclusive: Beyond the Covid-19 world's coverage