In a symbolic gesture, local Congress leaders here today presented party chief Sonia Gandhi with a replica of the wooden pole used by mahouts and urged her to tame "the elephant running amok" in Uttar Pradesh.
The memento was presented to Gandhi at an election rally held in the vicinity of the holy Sangam in the presence of AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh, senior party leader Anil Shastri and the party's state unit president Rita Bahuguna Joshi.
Presenting the memento to Gandhi, the party's election coordinator said the party President should use it "to tame the elephant that is running amok" - an obvious but unspecified reference to ruling Bahujan Samaj Party which has elephant as its election symbol.
Gandhi held the memento and gesticulated like a mahout trying to tame an elephant while riding on its back, evoking peels of laughter from party supporters and the crowd that had gathered at the Parade Ground to listen to her speech.
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