Temple visits to mark Sonia Gandhi’s Varanasi tour
LUCKNOW: Congress president Sonia Gandhi will also visit the Kashi Vishwanath and Sankat Mochan temples besides holding a roadshow as she challenges Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his home turf in Varanasi on August 2.
As this would be the first major programme of Congress in PM Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency after the launch of election campaign, the party wants to make her visit to the temple town a grand show.
“Yes, Sonia Gandhi will visit Kashi Vishwanath and Sankat Mochan temples and also take part in the Ganga Arti in Varanasi. All the local mahants and religious leaders will bless Sonia at the circuit house and she will also meet ‘sardars’ of handloom weavers,” said former MP and Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee’s UPCC) senior vice president Rajesh Mishra.
“We want to show to the people and Sonia Gandhi how Modi has misled the people in the name of development. No development has taken place even in Prime Minister adopted village Jayapur,” said Congress MLA Ajay Rai on phone. “Gandhi family has had a long relationship with Varanasi. Sonia Gandhi too has remained connected. But by observing ‘mujhe maa Ganga ne bulaya hai’ at the time of filing of his nomination papers in 2014, Modi played with the sentiments of the people,” he said.