Sonia to go all out on Lok Sabha poll campaigns

With the party fresh from assembly election drubbing and battling anti-incumbency, the Congress will see chief Sonia Gandhi play an active role in the campaign for the Lok Sabha polls otherwise pegged to be a Rahul Gandhi show.

With the party fresh from assembly election drubbing and battling anti-incumbency, the Congress will see chief Sonia Gandhi play an active role in the campaign for the Lok Sabha polls otherwise pegged to be a Rahul Gandhi show.

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Sonia, who successfully led the party’s campaign in 2004 and 2009, will tour all states though may not hold as many rallies as she did the last time, party sources told HT. “She will definitely campaign aggressively and not sit back,” said a key Sonia aide. The Congress president may hold her first election rally in a southern state.

On January 7, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had given her inputs to senior party leaders on the tour schedules of her mother Sonia and brother Rahul, who is the Congress vice-president.

“Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, too, will hold several rallies although he has announced his retirement,” the source said.

The Congress brass has asked its central ministers to visit the states and highlight their achievements before the poll schedule is announced. The campaign will go full steam ahead after the party’s January 17 session.