Those who went to the St Vincents School ground in the city around 10 am hoping to get a front seat for AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi's rally at 12 noon were in for a long wait. Perhaps taking cognizance of a plaint filed by the BJP to the election commission earlier in the day,alleging that the Congress scion had violated the election code of conduct by holding a rally in a 'silent zone' at Panvel,he arrived at the school ground only by 5.45 pm. This was apparently done to avoid holding rally even as the school was on,though a permission to hold the rally during school hours was granted. There was chaos as the Congress party workers tried to keep the moderate crowd back at the venue,saying that their leader would be arriving 'soon'. As the hours passed the crowd started getting restless; many were persuaded to stay back by offering them food and water. And when he finally arrived after a six-hour delay,Gandhi spoke only for less than five minutes,in Hindi. "Pune city is known for its auto sector. The government has been focusing on improving the infrastructure in Pune,it has allotted about Rs 2,500 crore by way of JNNURM funds. The Congress government will definitely strive to take the Pune growth story forward," said Gandhi in his speech. He continued with the "aam aadmi" line and took potshots at the Opposition and its India Shining campaign that reached only select people. Gandhi mentioned the UPA government's employment generation programmes,Right to Information bill,farm loan waiver and the party's concern for those living in "jhuggi zopadis". The Congress candidates in the city were all lined up as were a few from the NCP for the much-awaited visit and barely got a few seconds each with the youth leader before he rushed off to for Aurangabad for the last rally of the day. Among those who shared the dais with Gandhi were chief minister Ashok Chavan and city MP Suresh Kalmadi. For the management of St Vincent's School,it was the first political event to be eld in its premises. "The organisrs approached us a couple of days ago,saying that no other appropriate venue was available for the sabha and we agreed," said a member of the school faculty. Vada pav to keep back crowdPune cantonment candidate Ramesh Bagwe,who had arranged for a large number of supporters at the venue,distributed vada pav and bottled water to avoid the people leaving the venue. There was a scramble for the food whenever it was distributed; there were many who were not lucky enough to lay their hands on the freebies.
