NEW DELHI: UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi will address her first election rally in nearly two years at Bijapur in Karnataka, where the grand old party is trying to return to power in a close contest with the BJP.
Incidentally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to speak at a large rally in the same district on the same day.
The 71-year-old former party president had stayed away from canvassing in Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand, Manipur (February-March 2017); Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh in (December 2017); and Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland (February 2018).Sonia, who had been refraining from campaigning due to her to ill-health, is making a comeback to counter the ‘aggressive’ PM.
She is reportedly miffed over the PM’ s personal attacks on the Gandhis in the past few days. “She will give a befitting reply to PM Modi who is also scheduled to address a rally in Bijapur the same day,” Congress veteran Prakash Rathod said.Former prime minister Manmohan Singh will also join the campaign and will address a presser in Bengaluru on May 7.
“We missed her hectic campaigning in the past years but Rahul has carried forward the legacy quite well,” he said.While Sonia will campaign in north Karnataka, Congress president Rahul Gandhi will move to south Karnataka and the Bengaluru area in his ninth campaign run in Karnataka from May 7 to 10.
Rahul, who has been campaigning across the state in phases, will take to the streets against high prices of petroleum products in Kolar on May 7. The campaign will focus on highlighting how the Modi government has filled its coffers owing to lower international crude oil prices but failed to pass
on the benefits to the common man.
Later in the day, Rahul would address public meetings in rural Bengaluru and may stage a road show in city on May 9. “The BJP campaign so far has been loaded with falsehood. But the people of Karnataka can see through the rhetoric,” said a senior AICC functionary.