Bangalore :   Sonia Gandhi’s two-day visit to Karnataka will start on Friday, during which she will participate in the 105th birthday celebrations of Tumkur Siddaganga Mutt Seer Shivakumara Swamiji and visit a village in Chitradurga district for an on-thespot assessment of the prevailing drought.

Sonia will arrive here on Friday night and stay at the Raj Bhavan.

As per her itinerary, she will leave for Tumkur by helicopter on April 28 and visit Nagasamudra village in Chitradurga district, which is badly affected by drought.

KPCC president G Parameshwar told reporters that Sonia would have a 30-minute interaction with villagers, who are facing acute drinking water shortage following the drying up of a tank which was built in 1905 and has not brimmed since 2009.

She would later leave for Siddaganaga Mutt to participate in the birthday celebrations of the centenarian seer Shivakumara Swami, widely respected for his social service.

The seer is the most influential seer among the Lingayat community, which the Congress is trying to win over ahead of the 2013 Assembly polls.

Parameswar said that Sonia, would later address about 1,000 Congress delegates at the Siddaganga Institute of Technology in Tumkur.

During the meeting, a status report on the drought prepared by the state Congress would be submitted to her besides seeking her intervention to secure more financial assistance for drought relief works.

All four Union ministers representing Karnataka – S M Krishna, Mallikarjun Kharge, K H Muniyappa and M Veerappa Moily – will be present on this occasion, the KPCC president said.