Few takers for Rahul’s (road) show this time

Rahul began his roadshow at 3.30 pm from Amausi airport,from there a fleet of about 20 vehicles followed him. Thanks to the Congress workers — including MPs like Jagdambika Pal — who kept following Rahul’s cavalcade in their own vehicles,traffic jams were witnessed at various places in the city.

While Rahul stood at the door of the bus,candidates from the five cities and one rural Assembly seat kept switching places to stand beside him. In Cantonment,it was state Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi,in Lucknow central it was Fakhir Siddique,Neeraj Borah in Lucknow North,Ramesh Srivastava in Lucknow East,Shyam Kishore Shukla in Lucknow West and Gaurav Chaudhary in Sarojaninagar.

As Rahul passed through the Old City areas like Haiderganj,Turiyaganj,Nakkhas Chowk crossing,locals fought to catch a glimpse of him. While some showered petals on him,others shouted his name to draw his attention. Youth and children were seen running behind his bus to shake hands with him. Even women in veils were not left behind,who stood on rooftops as well as on the roadside,waiving at him.

Abdulla Qureshi,a vendor at Haiderganj,said: “At least in this area,the Congress is performing well. Though it would have been better if he got down from the bus. Children have been waiting for him for hours and they could not even see him properly as his bus passed us by.”

As the day faded away,however,so did the enthusiasm of the crowd. At 5 pm,when Rahul reached Chune Lal chauraha of Maharanagar,there was no public to greet him. Even as some Congress workers had arranged for a dhol to attract crowd and some were seen waving the party flag (on bikes),it failed to pull the crowd. The scene was similar at Mahanagar crossing and Kapoorthala (Aliganj),where few people were waiting to greet him.

Rahul ended his roadshow at a VVIP guest house at 6.30 pm,where a large number of Congress leaders were waiting to meet him.

Tomorrow,Rahul will tour Lalitpur,Kanpur Dehat,Auraiya and Etawah.