Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka visit Raebareli to thank voters 

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi thanked Raebareli voters for re-electing her in the recently held Lok Sabha elections on her one-day visit to the constituency on Wednesday.

Her daughter and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accompanied her, holding discussions with party workers.

After the meeting, Congress leader Sanjay Sinh said the workers were of the view that there should be no alliance for the upcoming assembly byelections in Uttar Pradesh.

This is the first visit of the two leaders to Raebareli after the constituency re-elected Sonia Gandhi to Parliament in the recently-concluded polls.

District Congress spokesperson Lal Aash Kiran Pratap Singh said the two leaders landed at the Fursatganj airport here, after which their cavalcade reached the Bhuyemau guest house.

Priyanka Gandhi, the Congress general secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, held a meeting with the party's district chiefs from the area at the guest house.

The Congress was able to retain Raebareli -- the only seat it won in Uttar Pradesh -- with Sonia Gandhi defeating BJP's Dinesh Pratap Singh by a margin of 1,67,178 votes.

Earlier in May, Sonia Gandhi had said she was ready to sacrifice everything to safeguard the basic values of the country as she thanked the people of Raebareli for re-electing her.

"I promise you that to safeguard the basic values of the country and to uphold the tradition of the ancestors of the Congress, I will not step back from sacrificing whatever I have got," she had written in a letter addressed to the voters of her constituency.

"I know that the coming days are going to be very tough, but I am fully confident that with the power of your support and trust, the Congress will meet every challenge," she had said.

Referring to the people of her constituency, the UPA chairperson had said she had always tried to look after this extended family.

"Like every Lok Sabha election, this time also you have reposed your faith in me. I am thankful to each and every Congress worker and friends from the SP, BSP, Swabhiman Dal for the hard work put in for my win," Sonia Gandhi had said.

"My life is an open book in front of you all. You are my family. I derive strength from you and this is my real asset," she had added.

The Congress leader had also thanked the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which did not field any candidate against her in the Lok Sabha polls.