Cong tries hard to de-link Sonia rallies with polls

kolkata, April 27 Congress president Sonia Gandhi will be in the state to address rallies at Murshidabad and Malda ¿ both Congress strongholds. Her one-day visit comes as the state gears up for panchayat polls. Though the timing of her visit is likely to boost the party’s campaign in the panchayat polls, the Congress leaders in the state today tried to dissociate her visit with the impending polls.

Senior Congress leader and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the Sonia’s visit has nothing to do with the upcoming panchayat elections and instead the rallies have been organised so that the “farmers can thank the Congress president for the Rs 60,000- crore loan waiver” as announced in the Budget. “The UPA government under her guidance has taken a major step of waiving loans of farmers. The farmers of West Bengal will like to thank her for the giant step and they will felicitate her for this,” said Manas Bhuina, Congress Legislative Party leader.

West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) president PR Dasmunshi along with Mukherjee and other senior leaders will accompany Sonia at the rally.

Meanwhile, huge security arrangements were in place at the venue of her rallies.