Sonia Gandhi to undertake thanks-giving trip to Karnataka

 

Bangalore, Sep 24, 2013 (PTI): Congress President Sonia Gandhi would undertake a thanks-giving trip to Karnataka, where theparty recorded a land-slide victory in the Assembly elections,earlier this year.

 

She would thank the people for giving the party the mandate and address a convention of party workers in the district headquarters town of Mandya on September 30, State Congress President G Parameshwara said today.

 

Gandhi, during her visit to Tumkur last year, had chanted the unity mantra and exhorted party leaders to sink their differences, saying only such an approach would yield rich electoral dividends.

 

The selection of venue for her September 30 public convention has not gone unnoticed as it was in Mandya that the Congress wrested the Lok Sabha seat from the Janata Dal (Secular) of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda in the recent bypolls, along with Bangalore Rural.

 

The Congress has already short-listed candidates for the coming Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka, where it’s eyeing to win at least 20 of the total 28 seats.

 

The Congress had bagged six seats in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, while the then ruling BJP secured a lion’s share of 19, with JDS getting three.