Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday was forced to halt her roadshow in Varanasi – Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency – because of high fever. The 69-year-old fell ill and is headed to Delhi, reportedly on a doctor's advice.

Gandhi began the roadshow with prayers at the famous Sankatmochan temple, reported Hindustan Times. During the event, she was expected to highlight the non-commissioned projects in the state that Modi had promised before he was elected to power in 2014 and also focus on the revival of the handloom industry as well as the Ganga clean-up plan.

However, Dalits and the Brahmins were her primary target audience. Accompanied by 10,000 bikers, the 6-km-long roadshow began at a statue of Dr BR Ambedkar and was scheduled to end in a park named after former UP chief minister and Congress' Brahmin leader Kamlapati Tripathi. She also had two press events lined up in between, according to News18.

The decision to make Sheila Dikshit the chief ministerial candidate of the party for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state was seen as a step to win the trust of Brahmin voters. Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi recently met thousands of party workers in Lucknow, while a rally by Priyanka Gandhi could also be on cards.