Rahul's roadshow fails to connect

The Congress had, on Sunday, organised its vice president Rahul Gandhi’s roadshow across the three districts of Tumkur, Mandya and Mysore to garner support of people ahead of the parliamentary elections.

Instead, the much-anticipated show left a large number of people disappointed as they could not even have a look at the young leader, let alone hear or interact with him.

Rahul, who was over an hour behind schedule, literally zipped through Gulur, Nagavalli, Hebbur, Kunigal, Huliyurdurga and Kestur, Maddur, Srirangapattana and Mysore city before reaching Mandakalli airport on the outskirts of Mysore around 8:20 pm. His sojourn began around 3:15 pm from Tumkur town. Though he was forced to stop his vehicle at some places, he chose to just greet people from inside his four-wheeler.

The stated aim of the roadshow was to connect with people. He was in a hurry to catch a flight to Delhi from Mysore.

A large number of people, mainly party workers, were eagerly waiting to talk to and greet the Congress leader in these places. Many of them had brought garlands, while some wanted to air their woes. Local Congressmen had made people, including women and children, wait for about two hours to meet the Congress leader.

But what they finally saw was a long cavalcade of four-wheelers of Congress leaders. KPCC chief G Parameshwara and local leaders accompanied Rahul on the roadshow.

However, he managed to step out of the vehicle at Gulur (on the outskirts of Tumkur), where he shook hands with some people, and at Maddur, where former Union minister S M Krishna garlanded him. He later passed through the main streets of Mysore city.

This apart, people along the route where Rahul conducted the roadshow had to put up with inconvenience as the traffic was blocked.