New Delhi: Pulling out all stops on the last day of campaigning, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi today reached out to the electorate holding a roadshow in Sultanpur Majra in north Delhi.
Party supporters rallied on both sides of the road as Gandhi, riding an open pick-up truck, passed through the streets of the constituency, held four times by its candidate Jai Kishan, a prominent Dalit face of the party in Delhi. Sporting a white kurta and a black sleeveless jacket atop blue denim, Gandhi waved enthusiastically to the crowd, many of whom were perched on the edge of their balconies and on the rooftops.
Talking about the road show, AICC in-charge for Delhi P C Chacko, who accompanied him on the van, said, “The response to Gandhi's road show was tremendous and we are hopeful of bettering our performance from what we had done in the 2013 Assembly polls.”
“Rahulji came to this area for the first time. It is the biggest jhuggi jhopri resettlement colony in Asia, established in 1967 by Indiraji. Rajivji also visited the area. So, it was an emotional thing for people here to see her grandson among them,” AICC General Secretary Kuljit Singh Nagra said, who also accompanied Rahul Gandhi during the roadshow.
Lasting a little over an hour, the roadshow which began around 2 PM and covered nearly 2 km was not scheduled till last night, but sources in the AICC said that the decision was taken after the “huge response” at yesterday's roadshow. Attempting a better contact with the supporters, Gandhi also gave autographs on party merchandises as the party workers thronged him.
Workers of Youth Congress and NSUI, which Gandhi has nurtured for last many years, were quite enthusiastic. The Congress Vice President, towards the end of the road show, savoured samosas. He had taken a bite of sweets including laddoos during his massive roadshow yesterday, which lasted for about four hours.
The party, which had felt the pinch of thin crowd in Gandhi's rallies in the last assembly polls, had apparently pulled up its socks this time.
During the roadshow, supporters offered him scarves, which he sported for a while. On his arrival, Gandhi was welcomed with a traditional pink safa. He was accompanied by DPCC chief Arvinder Singh Lovely, area candidate and Indian Youth Congress President Amrinder Singh Raja among others.
Nearly 50 per cent residents of Sultanpur Majra constituency belong to reserved category, about 10-15 per cent are from the Muslim community, a senior official of DPCC said. Meanwhile, Bollywood actress Mahima Chaudhary today also campaigned for Congress' Mangolpuri candidate Raj Kumar Chauhan in the area.
