Sonia to hit the Gujarat road from Dec 3, no stop in Godhra

Godhra does not figure in Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s planned schedule for the election campaign in Gujarat, the first leg of whi...

Godhra does not figure in Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s planned schedule for the election campaign in Gujarat, the first leg of which was finalised late tonight.

As of now, three visits have been fixed for December 3, 5 and 8 and sources said that a fourth, possibly on December 10, two days before the polls, is being worked on.

AICC general secretary in-charge of Gujarat, Kamal Nath, denies that striking off Godhra from her election map has anything to do with being careful about not ruffling ‘‘majority sentiments.’’

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‘‘We have a winning candidate for Godhra,’’ he said, ‘‘He has been a three-time MLA. The idea is not to send our president to constituencies where we are comfortably placed. She will go where she is really required.’’

Nevertheless, Sonia will campaign in areas which were affected by the riots. On December 3, a rally has been planned in Vadodara; her second major stopover will be Surat, on December 5. And three days later, she will hold a public meeting in Ahmedabad. In all, Sonia is expected to hold 15 rallies in the state.

‘‘The backbone of our campaign will be local issues dominating in respective constituencies. But apart from this, Sonia Gandhi will make an extra effort in highlighting the schism brought about in Gujarat’s social fabric by the communal unrest,’’ said Kamal Nath.

Several senior Congress leaders, including Manmohan Singh and Karan Singh will campaign extensively. Services of almost all Hindi-speaking Chief Ministers will be utilised. Those asked to be on the forefront of party campaign are CMs of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.