He came, waved and left them wanting

Gandhi scion disappoints supporters by failing to interact with them

All India Congress Committee (AICC) Vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday took out a road show in the city on Sunday.

However, the crowd that had gathered nearly two hours ahead of his visit had to return disappointed, as the VVIP did not bother stopping to address them.
The show lasted less than one hour, as the Gandhi scion flew back to Delhi in the special aircraft from Mysore Airport at Mandakalli, at 8.35 pm.

Rahul accompanied by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in a sports utility vehicle entered the city near the toll gate on Mysore-Bangalore road around 7.30 pm. He passed through JSS Medical College junction, Millienium Circle, Highway Circle and Government Ayurvedic Hospital Circle before arriving near Mysore District (City) Congress office on Sayyaji Rao Road at 7.52 pm.

As soon as elated party workers sighted the convoy, they started waving the party flags and raised slogans in favour of Rahul Gandhi. Both Rahul and Siddaramaiah waved at the gathering.

However, the vehicle carrying the VVIPs didn’t stop as per the schedule. As a result, party workers ran up to the K R Circle to catch a glimpse of their leader.

Though the curious public and also the party workers in general had gathered on the either side of the route, he didn’t stop at any of the four to five designated spots where the district unit of the party wanted him to address the gathering.

Most of the flex boards in English with the portraits of Gandhi scion, Siddaramaiah, KPCC chief G Parameshwar and State youth Congress chief Rizwan Arshad dotted the route.

The circles on the way were also decorated with buntings. A flex board at Kamsale Mahadevaiah Circle (St Mary’s Convent junction) on JLB road read - Wishing you to be the next Prime Minister.

At Mandya

Party workers and people who had gathered in large numbers on the Bangalore-Mysore road to listen to Rahul too were a disappointed lot. Rahul, who came to Mysore via Mandya, was welcomed by former union minister S M Krishna.

On the occasion, District in-charge minister Ambareesh, Energy minister D K Shivakumar, MP Ramya, MLA P M Narendraswamy were present.

Special permission

The Mysore Airport authorities had taken special permission from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to allow the 16-seater special aircraft carrying Rahul Gandhi to take off in the night. The ‘Falcon 2000’ make aircraft had landed here on Saturday evening itself, Director of the Airport C N Manjunath told Deccan Herald.

Traffic pileup

Rahul Gandhi’s visit to city left several commuters in lurch. As a security measure police had diverted traffic in Bangalore-Mysore road.Those commuters who were unaware about the diversion were left in confusion and stranded on road for hours. The traffic was diverted from 8 am and Rahul turned to district only after 6 pm.