Congress chief Sonia to skip Haryana's rally today, Rahul to take her place

New Delhi: Ahead of Haryana Assembly election on Monday, Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s only rally in the state has been cancelled just hours before it was to take place. The rally, in Mahendergarh, will now be addressed by Rahul Gandhi.

A Congress leader confirmed to Hindustan Times that the cancellation came after Sonia Gandhi fell ill on Thursday night.

This was to be her first public meeting after she took over the reins of the grand old party in August.

According to News18 report, the party has not yet given a reason for the change and also deleted the tweet in which Sonia Gandhi’s rally was initially announced.

“Shri @RahulGandhi ji will be addressing a public meeting at Mahendragarh today, at 2 PM. @INCIndia President Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji will not be able to attend the meeting due to unavoidable reasons (sic),” the party’s deleted tweet had said.

Sonia Gandhi’s appearances at public functions have been rare the last few years. She had last addressed a rally in Rae Bareli on June 12 to thank the voters of re-electing her in the Lok Sabha election. The last time she had campaigned for an assembly election was in Telangana on November 23 last year.