SONIA BACK TO HER CONSTITUENCY AFTER 20 MONTHS
HOLDS JANATA DARBAR
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, along with her son and Congress president Rahul Gandhi, held a ‘Janata Darbar’ here on the second and last day of her visit to her Lok Sabha constituency. She also inaugurated the IMA building, passport office and chaired the district vigilance monitoring committee’s meeting as an MP. SHAH VISIT ON SATURDAY
BJP chief Amit Shah would lead a high powered party delegation comprising CM Yogi Adityanath to Rae Bareli on Saturday. Shah and Adityanath, accompanied by deputy CM Dinesh Sharma and several ministers of Modi and Yogi government would address a rally in Sonia Gandhi’s constituency.
RAE BARELI: United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, along with her son and Congress president Rahul Gandhi, held a ‘Janata Darbar’ here on the second and last day of her visit to her Lok Sabha constituency amid reports that Congress MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh and his two brothers would join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of the ruling party chief Amit Shah here on April 21.
The Janata Darbar was held at Rae Bareli’s Bhuemau guesthouse where Rahul Gandhi met most of the people and Sonia Gandhi interacted with a select number.
Sonia Gandhi reached Rae Bareli, her parliamentary constituency, on Tuesday evening after a gap of 20 months. Soon after arrival here, she inaugurated the Indian Medical Association (IMA) building.
She inaugurated the passport office and chaired the district vigilance monitoring committee’s meeting as an MP on Wednesday. Janata Darbar was held at the Bhuemau guesthouse.
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There is flood of corruption in the country these days even as the prime minister has turned a blind eye to all this with the result that people like Nirav Modi are beyond arrest
RAHUL GANDHI, Congress president
When he encountered the media outside the Indira Gandhi National Flying Academy before leaving for Delhi along with his mother, Rahul Gandhi avoided a direct reply to a question on the BJP national president’s proposed Rae Bareli visit on April 21 and the possibility of Congress MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh, zila panchayat chairman Awadhesh Pratap Singh and Harchandpur MLA Rakesh Singh joining the BJP the same day.
Launching a counter attack, Rahul Gandhi asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi was mum on corruption charges against Amit Shah’s son.
“There is flood of corruption in the country these days even as the prime minister has turned a blind eye to all this with the result that people like Nirav Modi are beyond arrest,” he said.
He said he would render the PM speechless if was allowed to speak just for 15 minutes in Parliament.
Rahul also held a ‘chaupal’ outside a dalit’s house at Nigohi village and met students at a government junior high school.
He asked students about their experience of sitting on the ground in the school. He was also impressed with a student introducing himself in English.
SONIA VISITS SP LEADER’S HOUSE
RAE BARELI: UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi visited Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA and former minister Manoj Kumar Pande’s new house, Neelam Mansion, to join the housewarming ceremony there. Pande had personally invited her on Tuesday.
Pande and her family welcomed the UPA chairperson with bouquets on her arrival at their new house where she briefly participated in the ‘puja’ and went upstairs for snacks. She stayed there for around 15 minutes.
Pande’s wife Neelam Pande, who welcomed the UPA chairperson, is former vice chancellor of Maharishi University.
“Sonia ji took only a piece of chips and a piece of almond,” Manoj Kumar Pande said.
He said he had invited her to his new house as she represented Rae Bareli as an MP.
“No political meaning should be attached and I am not going to join the Congress,” he said firmly.
He said former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav would join a feast at his house on April 21.
Manoj Kumar Pande represents Unchahar assembly constituency of Rae Bareli in the Vidhan Sabha.