As the helicopter ferrying AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi landed at the specially constructed helipad at Municipal High School Ground in Haveri on Friday, raising a huge cloud of dust, the large crowd which had been waiting patiently for nearly two hours went into ecstatic mood, raising slogans in favour of the Congress leader.
The crowd which had been waiting in the scorching sun had to wait for a few more minutes to have a glimpse of the “young leader”.
As the cloud of dust settled down, Mr. Gandhi, clad in white kurta and pajama, walked to the ground under the guard of security personnel. By that time the Congress candidates of the six Assembly constituencies in Haveri and four in Gadag district had lined up like disciplined soldiers to shake hands with their party vice-president .
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As the crowd was engaged in slogan shouting, several people, especially the younger ones, rushed towards the barricades just to take a few snaps of the “future hope of the country”, as Mr. Gandhi was described by the announcer repeatedly.
After Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president G. Parameshwara wound up his short speech making an appeal to vote for the party,
Mr. Gandhi engaged the crowd in an interaction during the next 12 minutes, mainly commenting on the corruption of the BJP government. He sought answers from the crowd at regular intervals on what the BJP should have done for them and what they had actually done. And the crowd responded enthusiastically, cheering and responding to his questions. As Mr. Gandhi finished his speech with a “namaskar” and then introduced all the Congress candidates of the Haveri and Gadag districts, the crowd again cheered as each candidate came on to the stage to get introduced formally to him.
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30 minutes
The entire event lasted hardly for 30 minutes, but there was none to complain. While many were happy for having got to see Mr. Gandhi, several others rushed towards a vantage point from where they could get a glimpse of him boarding the helicopter.