Karnataka: Rahul Gandhi, on campaign trail, set to visit Gulbarga, Bidar on Tuesday

Raichur: Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who is currently campaigning in the poll-bound Karnataka, is expected to visit Gulbarga and Bidar districts of the southern state on Tuesday.

After arriving in Gulbarga, Rahul Gandhi will go to meet the family members of late former Karnataka chief minister N Dharam Singh.

The Gandhi scion will also meet the kin of Qamar ul Islam, former minister and ex-AICC secretary.

Following his interaction with professionals and business leaders at HKES Auditorium in Gulbarga, he will proceed to Bidar.

In Bidar, he will visit Anubhava Mantapa, Basavakalyan, and later hold a public meeting there.

Here is Rahul Gandhi's travel programme for February 13, 2018:-

09:15 hrs: Visit to Family Members of Late Shri N Dharam Singh, Ex CM, District Gulbarga

09:45 hrs: Visit to Family Members of Late Shri Qamar ul Islam, Ex-Minister & Ex AICC Secretary, District Gulbarga

10:00 hrs: Interaction with Professionals and Business Leaders at HKES Auditorium, District Gulbarga

12:00 hrs: Visit to Anubhava Mantapa, Basavakalyan, District Bidar

12:45 hrs: Public Meeting at Tara Maidan Ground, Basavakalyan, District Bidar

Rahul Gandhi, while campaigning in the state, today stopped by a roadside eatery in  Raichur town and munched hot and spicy pakodas and bhajjis and sipped tea in a plastic cup along with state Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and other party officials.

"Gandhi alighted from the special bus in which he is touring the district and entered the eatery to munch spicy pakodas and bhajjis, served on a paper plate, and sipped tea in a plastic cup, sitting comfortably on a wooden bench," a party official said.

Gandhi is on a maiden visit to Karnataka since Saturday after becoming the party president in December. He is touring the northern region since Saturday on a 'Jan Ashirwad Yatra' for the people's blessings ahead of the assembly polls in the state, due in late April or early May.

Gandhi's surprise act of stopping by the roadside eatery drew curious crowds and surprised the owner of the eatery and his assistants who were delighted to serve the 47-year-old scion of the Gandhi family in the way they do for ordinary customers.

Though stopping by the eatery was not in the schedule, Gandhi asked the driver to stop the bus on the roadside and walked into the open eatery along with his security men and sat on one of its benches for the hot snacks.

State Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, party's state unit president G. Parameshwara, party's leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, and party's state in-charge and lawmaker KC Venugopal also joined Gandhi in sharing the snacks and sipping the "Irani" chai, famous in the Deccan region.

"When Rahul asked the eatery owner how the business was and how much he earned a day, the latter told him about Rs 2,000 on average. Rahul took out a Rs 2,000 note and gave it to the owner for serving him and about 50 party leaders and cadres on the occasion," recalled the official.

After touring Koppal and Ballari districts on the weekend, Gandhi is touring Raichur, Yadgir, Kalaburgi and Bidar in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region on Monday and Tuesday to interact with people, farmers, women and children for boosting the party's poll prospects to retain power in the state.

(With IANS inputs)