Sonia Gandhi treated at Varanasi airport after her health deteriorates
VARANASI : Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday suddenly took ill during a roadshow in the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.According to reports, her flight was halted at the airport as the Congress president was unable to travel back to Delhi. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is likely to visit Varanasi to meet his mother.
Reports also said that an air ambulance is being sent from Delhi for Sonia Gandhi.Local Congress MLA Ajai Rai said Gandhi was put on a saline drip at the airport. The hospital at Banaras Hindu University(BHU) has also been alerted, he said.
Taking the battle to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s turf, Sonia Gandhi earlier today led a massive roadshow in Varanasi kicking off the party’s campaign for the 2017 Assembly Elections in Uttar Pradesh where it is out of power for nearly three decades.Sonia Gandhi flies back to Delhi after calling off her roadshow in Varanasi mid-way – Here’s why
69-year-old Gandhi, however, had to cut short the roadshow towards the fag end of the eight-km march route this evening after she fell ill as it wound through the streets of the temple town for nearly three hours.Congress sources said Gandhi cancelled her planned visit to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in the evening to offer prayers.
The sources said that Gandhi was suffering from viral fever but had decided to go ahead with the roadshow as she was not inclined to cancel it at the last minute.Ghanshyam Srivastava, a doctor who attended to her, said she was feeling dehydrated and running high blood pressure (88-172) as well as fever. She was administered Electral and told to rest. Modi prayed for Gandhi’s quick recovery and good health.
The roadshow, which continued for about three hours, was halted for some time at the Lohurabir roundabout near the fag end of the roadshow from the Circuit House to Englishiya Line. The roadshow later proceeded without Gandhi.The sources said Gandhi complained of uneasiness and after taking rest for some time, she left the area.Thousands of Congress supporters and workers took part in the roadshow.
It was Gandhi’s first visit to Varanasi after Modi became Prime Minister in May 2014.The march began with Gandhi garlanding the statue of BR Ambedkar at the Circuit House and the marchers crisscrossed lanes and bylanes of the temple town.Gandhi, who was initially travelling in a car and later moved to a vehicle with an open sunroof, waved at the crowd which cheered and raised slogans against the Modi government.
She came out of her vehicle several times to accept the greetings of the cheering supporters, including groups of Muslim women. As the roadshow passed through several localities, rose petals were showered on Gandhi and her cavalcade from adjoining buildings.
Dozens of mini trucks prominently displayed posters with ’27 Saal, UP Behaal’ (27 years of UP’s distress) written on them. Placards carried by hundreds of workers also had the same slogan written on them.
Besides the party’s chief ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit, AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad, state party chief Raj Babbar and senior leaders Pramod Tiwari and Sanjay Singh accompanied Gandhi. Babbar expressed the hope there will be a “miracle” in favour of his party in the elections. Earlier, Gandhi flew in here for a day-long programme in Modi’s constituency and was led by hundreds of bikers, waving party flags from the airport to the heart of the city.
Congress has launched a campaign “dard-e-Banaras” to highlight the lack of development in Varanasi, which Modi is representing for over two years in the Lok Sabha.Congress has been out of power for 27 years in Uttar Pradesh and is projecting that the state has gone from bad to worse in these years through a campaign, called ’27 Saal, UP Behaal’.
Babbar later said that Gandhi had come to Varanasi while she had fever and insisted that she will go ahead with the visit.During the roadshow, Gandhi felt exhausted and was told by doctors not to continue with her programme, he said. The Congress president also wanted to visit Kashi Vishwanath temple before returning to Delhi but was told not to do so, he added.
