By IANS
Vadodara : Hundreds of people, including college girls and elderly women, came out on the streets to hear Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at his road show here on the last leg of campaigning for the second phase of the Gujarat polls.
According to show organiser Sanjay Nirupam, practically the entire population of the city was on the streets to catch a glimpse of the young leader Friday.
“Hundreds of college girls danced on the streets when Rahul’s arrival was delayed by more than two hours on account of fog in New Delhi. Elderly women, some nearly 80, queued up to garland him,” Nirupam said.
Nirupam is the Maharashtra Congress spokesperson assigned the task of helping out the Gujarat Congress for the elections.
In his whirlwind three-hour tour of the city, Rahul Gandhi managed eye contact with over 200,000 people and addressed a rally in each of the three assembly constituencies which go to the polls Sunday.
During the 41-km long road-show, Gandhi got off his vehicle 12 times and greeted the crowds in all localities of the city, which was among the worst-affected during the post-Godhra communal carnage five years ago, Nirupam said.
He made it a point to catch popular sentiments by halting at each important junction in the city to garland the statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Babasaheb Ambedkar, Bhagat Singh and Chhatrapati Shivaji, even as the crowds cheered and clapped in approval.
Political observers termed the road show as “a better organised and systematic one” in which both the voters and the Amethi MP could interact freely. Incidentally, Gandhi’s Surat road show on Dec 9 paled in comparison to the effort in Vadodara.
Accompanying Rahul Gandhi were Nirupam, former MP Satyajit Gaekwad and Gujarat Congress Legislature Party chief Arjun Morwaria.