Sonia Gandhi deputes her aide to oversee Varanasi campaign

According to Congress sources here, Sonia’s Man Friday and her aide specially assigned work in Rae Bareli area, K.L. Sharma, will visit the city on Sunday and hold crucial meetings with block-level workers and party's foot soldiers.

The Congress has fielded prominent but a local face - Ajay Rai - for the crucial contest in the constituency where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking re-election.
Also in the fray is Shalini Yadav, Samajwadi Party candidate and a nominee of SP-BSP-RLD combine.

There has been resentment in the Congress party after party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's name was dropped from the candidate's list after much media speculation.

However, party leaders including the party candidate Mr Rai said: "There is no shortfall in enthusiasm among Congress workers and supporters and the party is battle ready to fight Mr Modi — whose five year stint as a representative of Varanasi did not help the common people.”

Congress leaders say there is much of enthusiasm now for May 15 roadshow by Priyanka Gandhi and this is going to be a game changer in more ways than one.

"We are confident of doing well. There are all kinds of machinations being applied by the BJP and even Samajwadi-BSP-RLD combine is indirectly helping the saffron party. There was no necessity of fielding Shalini Yadav as Samajwadi Party candidate if they wanted a serious fight against Modi,” said Raseela Jahan Ansari, a local office bearer.

In 2014, the Congress nominee Ajay Rai could not put up an impressive show as anti-Modi votes largely went to AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal's kitty.
"We will ensure a good fight. The elections are not decided by a local face or a national face. Ajay Rai is a ground to earth leader and Mr Modi is essentially an outsider. You can expect miracles," says Ms Ansari.