Congress president Sonia Gandhi will not address the election rally in Haryana’s Mahendergarh on Friday, a senior party leader said hours before the programme ahead of Monday’s state polls.
A Congress leader confirmed to HT that the cancellation came after Sonia Gandhi fell ill on Thursday night and said Rahul Gandhi will stand in for her.
This would have been her first rally after she took over the reins of the Congress party in August following her son Rahul Gandhi’s resignation owning responsibility for the drubbing in this year’s Lok Sabha polls.
The Haryana Congress announced the decision on Twitter but deleted the tweet moments later.
“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),” the party’s deleted tweet had said.
Congress candidate Rao Daan Singh is contesting against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister Ram Bilas Sharma in Mahendergarh. The election will be held on October 21 and votes will be counted three days later on October 24.
Over the last few years, Sonia Gandhi has been seen less and less in her party’s public meetings and rallies.
Her last public address was a rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli on June 12. She had held a meeting in Rae Bareli on May 2 during the Lok Sabha election campaign, which was her lone poll rally.