Sonia Gandhi in US with ailing mother

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has gone to the US to be with her ailing mother Paola Maino. This is Sonia’s second visit abroad in recent times that has been necessitated by her mother’s illness.

Gandhi’s absence is likely to hit the process of finalising party candidates for the Bihar assembly election, though a central election committee meeting held under her chairmanship on Wednesday decided almost all candidates for the first three phases. She will also miss rollout of the unique identification (UID) project in Maharashtra on September 29. She had agreed to attend the event as UID is one of her favourite projects.