Rain cancels Sonia rallies, Vajpayee keeps date

Chandigarh, Feb 10 (UNI) Congress president Sonia Gandhi today failed to keep her date with Punjab due to bad weather even as former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee weathered the rains to address an election rally in the state.

Ms Gandhi, who was to address two election rallies in Rampura Phool and Sirhand today to give one last push to her party's poll prospects, failed to take off due to adverse weather.

Mr Vajpayee kept his date with the people of Amritsar where he flew in by a private plane this morning to canvass for the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance. However, the senior BJP leader could not take off for Ludhiana, where he was scheduled to address another rally, due to rains.

While Ms Gandhi hit the campaign trail in Punjab on February seven, Mr Vajpayee made his first appearance in the state today to campaign for the February 13 elections in the state.

In his Amritsar rally, Mr Vajpayee attacked the Congress for raising the bogey of terrorism for retaining power in Punjab.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during his speeches in election rallies in the state recently, had warned the people to refrain from supporting the forces responsible for giving rise to terrorism in the state.

Ms Gandhi, in her speeches during February seven rallies, had appealed to the people not to vote to power the ''divisive forces.'' UNI