When Rajiv Gandhi lost his bag

Rahul catches up with family anecdotes during his dinner in a city restaurant

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi leaving Circuit House in Mangalore on Saturday. Photo: H.S. Manjunath

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi caught up with some interesting anecdotes of his family during a relaxed two-hour dinner session at a city’s restaurant on Friday.

He was to learn how his father, Rajiv Gandhi, as general secretary of the party in 1983 found his bag missing when he reached Udupi Inspection Bungalow in the early hours as part of Karnataka Assembly elections campaign. He was told that the party men acted quickly and ensured that the pair of dress he was wearing was washed at a laundry and kept ironed for him for the next day’s campaign. This was narrated to Mr. Gandhi by Karnataka Pradesh Congress Secretary M.A. Gaffoor.

Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister then but her party had to witness installation of Ramakrishna Hegde as the first non-Congress Chief Minister in Karnataka.

Mr. Gaffoor told

The Hindu that he reminded Mr. Gandhi that his grandmother, too, had visited Belthangady in 1977 and his great grand father and the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was in Udupi in 1962 and visited the house of school headmaster Rocky Fernandes, father of Union Minister Oscar Fernandes.

Simplicity

Mr. Gaffoor said he was struck by the simplicity of Mr. Gandhi, who went to the restaurant wearing a T-shirt and posed with restaurant staff for an impromptu photo session after his dinner. Mr. Gandhi had his dinner with two other “coordinators” from All India Congress Committee, including Kaushal Vidyarthee. Mr. Gandhi had a tender coconut sweet and a soft drink while others on his table did enjoy some coastal non-vegetarian delicacies, according to Mr. Gaffoor.

On Saturday morning, some photojournalists got the news that Mr. Gandhi would take a walk in Mangala Stadium and later visit three or four places of worship but their hours’ wait from 6 a.m. yielded no photo opportunity as the Congress leader stayed put in his room. Mediapersons were kept out of Circuit House premises and could click his photograph only while he was leaving the premises for Kerala at 11 a.m.

No party leader could meet him reportedly because of poll code, which says “Government transport, including official aircraft, vehicles, machinery and personnel shall not be used for furtherance of the interest of the party in power”. The leaders arrived only some time before his departure and got a photograph clicked with him at helipad.