Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a truck ride from Delhi to Chandigarh to understand the problems of over 90 lakh truckers across the country, the Congress said on Tuesday.
Dressed in his now trademark white T-shirt, Mr. Gandhi was seen sitting inside a truck and travelling on the Delhi-Chandigarh National Highway, speaking to drivers at a dhaba (roadside eatery) on Monday night, and praying at a gurdwara in Ambala on Tuesday morning. The visuals of the Congress leader’s road trip were released by the official Twitter handle of his party.
“People’s leader @RahulGandhi ji reached among the truck drivers to know their problems. Rahul ji travelled with them from Delhi to Chandigarh,” tweeted the Congress.
“According to media reports, there are about 90 lakh truck drivers on the Indian roads. They have their own problems. Rahul ji did the work of listening to their ‘Mann Ki Baat’,” the party added.
Party insiders claimed that Mr. Gandhi was on his way to Shimla to spend some time with his mother, Sonia Gandhi, and on the way he decided to listen to the problems of truck drivers.
Station House Officer of Baldev Nagar Police Station, Ambala City, Ram Kumar, said at around 4.30 a.m., the Congress leader got down from a truck near Gurdwara Manji Sahib on the Grand Trunk Road. He went inside the gurdwara and paid obeisance and spent a few minutes there. He also had tea at the langar at the gurdwara and then boarded a truck to leave towards Chandigarh, Mr. Kumar added.
Sharing pictures of Mr. Gandhi travelling in a truck and meeting with truckers on her Twitter handle, the Congress’ social media department head Supriya Shrinate said, ”Rahul Gandhi is a different person. Today he is committed to bridging the widening gap between the general public and the government in this country.”
“Whether it is sitting with the truck drivers in the heat or travelling and listening to their problems all night, the hope for a better future has risen,” Ms. Shrinate added.
While it is not clear if meeting targeted interest groups is part of a next phase following the mass contact exercise that was undertaken during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Mr. Gandhi has so far met students, Civil Services aspirants, and women’s groups, among others, in the past couple of months.
