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Sonia to visit flood-hit
Bengal on Thursday

All India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi will arrive in Calcutta on Thursday morning, to survey flood-hit areas of West Bengal.

West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee chief Pranab Mukherjee told rediff.com that Sonia would arrive in Calcutta at 0815 hours IST before leaving for an aerial survey of flood-affected districts at 0915 hours IST. Sonia will return to Delhi in the evening.

Mukherjee added that she will have lunch at Raj Bhavan and will also hold discussions with PCC leaders.

According to an earlier plan, Sonia was to visit strife-torn areas of Midnapore on October 12, but advanced her trip following the floods that are wreaking havoc in the state.

Among the issues that Sonia is to discuss with PCC leaders are relief and rescue measures taken by the state government and the law and order situation in Midnapore, Birbhoom and Bankura.

On whether the PCC would raise the issues of organisational feuds and the Trinamul Congress's demands for President's rule in the state with Sonia, Mukherjee replied in the affirmative. " Of course, when Madam meets the party's state leadership, we will discuss all these issues. Surely we will not be discussing cricket with her," Mukherjee said.

The PCC will also urge the AICC chief to ask all Congress-ruled governments to extend support to West Bengal, which is reeling under floods.

The party's chief whip in the Lok Sabha Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi has already begun approaching Congress leaderships in Delhi, Rajasthan and Maharashtra for help. A source close to him said that he had called up Congress leaders in three states on Tuesday evening requesting them to send relief material for victims of Bengal's floods.

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