Away from the campaign, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday met snake charmers in the Rae Bareli constituency of Uttar Pradesh and boldly held a reptile, saying “it’s fine”. She halted at Kuchariya village on her way to Belavela, another village in the constituency, represented by her mother, Sonia Gandhi. After having a chat with some snake charmers, she played with a snake, much to the amusement of the crowd. When someone warned her to be careful, she said: “Nothing will happen, it’s fine”.
She took stock of the problems faced by the snake charmers and other people in the area.
Ms. Vadra then explained to the people the role of Sonia Gandhi in developing the constituency. “My mother has been an MP from this seat for over 15 years. The work that she has done here has contributed to the development of the area,” she said.
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Ms. Vadra described the BJP as the Congress’ main political rival, saying the ideologies of these two parties were poles apart.
In Rae Bareli, Sonia Gandhi is in a direct contest with BJP candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh, who recently switched sides from the Congress to the ruling party. The SP-BSP-RLD alliance has not fielded its candidate against the UPA chairperson.