Sonia to file nomination from Rae Bareli today

Congress president Sonia Gandhi is all set to file her nomination papers Monday from the traditional political bastion of Nehru-Gandhi family, Rae Bareli, in Uttar Pradesh. Sonia will contest for the second time from here after 2004 Lok Sabha elections when she won the seat by a record-breaking margin.

She will be accompanied by her son and party’s general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who filed his nomination papers from Amethi, another stronghold of Gandhi family, yesterday.

Indira Gandhi, Sonia’s mother-in-law, used to contest from here (Rae Bareli), elected for the first time in 1967 and became the first woman prime minister of India.

The constituency will go into the polling in the third phase on April 30. The elections in Uttar Pradesh will be held in five phases: April 16, 23, 30 and May 7 and 13.

Meanwhile, the Congress president yesterday slammed Bharatiya Janata Party on the issue of terrorism, addressing a public rally in Varanasi. She said the people raising slogans against terrorism should introspect what happened during their own regime. Not only terrorist activities occurred in their regime but also the worst part is the people who carried out the Parliament attack were escorted to Kandhar as if they were royal guests.

Appealing voters to vote for Congress as only the Congress can provide a stable and strong government, Sonia Gandhi said, “After the terrorist attack on Mumbai, we put so much pressure that Pakistan had to admit the truth,” stressing the UPA government would never tolerate anything against India.

She also addressed rallies Sunday in Balia and Gorakhpur in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

The Congress president will be touring Maharashtra from April 10 to address election meetings in the Lok Sabha constituencies of Vidarbha.