Bad weather puts paid to Sonia's campaign in Bengal
The Congress's star campaigner Sonia Gandhi today cancelled all the four
public meetings on the last day of electioneering in West Bengal
because of bad weather.
Official sources said she decided to cancel the
four meetings after her helicopter failed to land at Nandakumar in
Midnapore district owing to heavy fog.
The sources said her helicopter finally landed at
Calcutta aiport around 1330 hours and she decided to return to
Delhi cancelling all her engagements in the state.
She was scheduled to address election meetings at
Nandakumar in Midnapore district, Diamound Harbour in South 24
Parganas district, Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas district and
Serampore in Hooghly district during the day.
A spokesman for the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee said
her helicopter tried to land both at Nandakumar and
Diamond Harbour, but the pilot did not take any risk because of
heavy fog.
A report from Midnapore district said her helicopter,
which took off from Baripada in neighbouring Orissa 90 minutes behind schedule, hovered around Nandakumar for some time but
could not land despite several attempts by the pilot.
Congress candidate for the Tamluk seat Jayanta Bhattacharya
announced the cancellation of the meeting to the disappointment of
the large crowd, which had assembled at the venue
despite the inclement weather.
Quoting SPG officials, Bhattacharya said the pilot did not
want to take any risk because of the heavy fog and decided to fly
over to Calcutta, possibly bypassing Diamond Harbour.
UNI
Elections '98
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