After a gap of three months, All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday arrived in Shimla to inspect her daughter's dream cottage at Chharabra, 14 km from the state capital.
Sonia, accompanied by her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and her (Sonia's) two friends arrived here at 3:30 pm and visited the cottage site. She came by air to Chandigarh from New Delhi. Since the Chandigarh-Shimla national highway was blocked at Shoghi following a massive landslide, she took the Subathu-Jubbarhatti road to reach Shimla.
Sonia is expected to stay here on Sunday and would be off to Delhi on Monday. Earlier, Sonia visited Shimla to inspect Priyanka's cottage in May this year.
Around three years ago, Priyanka had asked the builder to raze the cottage and incorporate fresh designs as she was not happy with the design. Priyanka reportedly wanted the cottage to be designed in accordance with the "vastu shastra".
Located amid thick forests of pine and cedar, the cottage, being built on about 1.4 acres, is close to The Retreat, the summer holiday resort of the President. When late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi visited Shimla, he often put up at The Retreat. As kids, Priyanka and her brother Rahul Gandhi are said to have played on the land where the cottage is now coming up. It was in 2007 that Priyanka bought the land for around `47 lakh. Its market value is now `5.2 crore.
{{/usCountry}}Located amid thick forests of pine and cedar, the cottage, being built on about 1.4 acres, is close to The Retreat, the summer holiday resort of the President. When late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi visited Shimla, he often put up at The Retreat. As kids, Priyanka and her brother Rahul Gandhi are said to have played on the land where the cottage is now coming up. It was in 2007 that Priyanka bought the land for around `47 lakh. Its market value is now `5.2 crore.
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