Sonia, Rahul arrive in Gujarat to participate in CWC meeting

Congress  president Rahul Gandhi, party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi and their mother Sonia Gandhi, along with former prime minister  Manmohan Singh, arrived here to attend the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting to be held at Sardar Smarak in Shahibaug area of the city on Tuesday.

Accompanied by other senior leaders, they reached SVP International Airport and later went to Sabarmati Ashram of Mahatma Gandhi to participate in Sarv Dharm Prarthana Sabha (all religion prayer meeting).

They also visited Hriday Kunj- Gandhiji's residence in the Ashram- where the prayer meeting was held and paid tributes to him. A spinning wheel (Charkha) was also gifted to the Congress president.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Punjab CM Amarinder Singh and other chief ministers of Congress- ruled state have also arrived here to participate in the events. Earlier, the CWC was to be held on February 28 but was postponed due to border situation.

Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said that in the first joint public stage sharing by the three members of Gandhi family, they would also participate in a rally at Trimandir in Adalaj near capital Gandhinagar later in the day.

The rally, earlier named Jan Sankalp rally, has now been re-christened as Jay Jawan, Jay Kisan, Jan Sankalp rally.

He said in all, 60 top leaders of the party would participate in the CWC to be held at Sardar Smarak, here.

Former minister Anand Sharma, A K Antony, Ghulam Nabi Azad and others, including Mallikarjun Khadge, Harish Rawat and CMs of the party-ruled states would participate in it.

The CWC, being held in Gujarat after 58 years, would remain focused on the coming LS polls and the situation after the Pulwama terror attack.

Doshi said that as the party fared very well in last Assembly election in Gujarat and gave a message to the whole nation that BJP was not invincible, the CWC before LS polls was being held here. It is also the 150th birth anniversary year of Gandhiji, the beloved son of Gujarat.

The party leaders would be offering tributes to the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the nation in Pulwama terror attack at Shahid Smarak, situated close-by to the venue of the CWC meeting.

At the rally in Trimandir, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Manmohan Singh would be present on the stage along with Rahul Gandhi.