Sonia cancels Puducherry, TN tour

The DMK-Congress alliance in Tamil Nadu suffered a blow on Wednesday when star campaigner and Congress president Sonia Gandhi cancelled her trip to Puducherry and Chennai at the last minute.

“The Congress president wanted to campaign with other alliance leaders. However, because chief minister M Karunanidhi has been advised two days rest by the private hospital were he is undergoing treatment, the trip has been deferred,” party general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters here. Karunanidhi is reportedly being treated for a kidney infection. “We will soon announce the new dates,” Azad said.

However, with active canvassing in Tamil Nadu ending on May 11, Sonia is unlikely to campaign in the state. “At the outset, we weren’t sure if madam [Sonia], Rahul Gandhi and [PM] Manmohan Singh would campaign in Tamil Nadu because of the threat perception from the LTTE. With hardly any time left, the possibility of their coming to campaign in Tamil Nadu looks remote,” party sources said.

Meanwhile, the BJP is going ahead with its star-studded campaign, with the party’s PM candidate LK Advani arriving here on Thursday. Gujarat CM Narendra Modi will address voters at Nagercoil and Coimbatore on May 9 and party president Rajnath Singh on May 10.