Power centers in the corridors of power, Extra Con

[Guest]

<b>Keeping Rahul thanda in hot Amethi</b>
NILANJANA BHADURI JHA

TIMESOFINDIA.COM[ WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 2004 02:52:56 PM ]

The rigours of campaigning and the April sun have taken a toll. Rahul Gandhi is unwell and grounded in Munshiganj – home in Amethi. <b>For the Gandhi scion, who has lived abroad and in air-conditioned environs for years, four days in the outdoors brought the fever.</b> <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->

So how does a Harvard Graduate <!--emo&:angry:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='mad.gif' /><!--endemo--> unused to the rustic experience that the UP badlands offer, cope? Rahul does it with Coke. <b>The Congress candidate in Amethi is a walking advertisement for the beverage giant, as he downs half a litre after a meal eaten under a tree.</b> <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->

<b>That is Rahul on the campaign trail. In Delhi, he is usually seen in western casuals</b>.

<b>In Amethi, the white khadi pyjama kurta and red angavastram - worn with no apparent discomfort - mix curiously with the uncomfortable Hindi</b>. But there are no major gaffes or words in English that slip in a la the early Rajiv Gandhi. Rahul, who is new to this sort of thing, in fact, keeps faux pas to the minimum by just not saying much.

So at meeting after meeting, as he mingles with villagers, he mostly nods vigorously and he listens. Occasionally he directs an aide to write down a particular complaint or problem. And when he speaks to them, it is a few words of assurance. Forced to speak from the podium he blurts out a memorised four-liner: "Amethi ke saath parivar ka rishta hai, rajniti ka nahi . Purana rishta hai, mere pita ne yahaan bahut kaam kiya, meri maa ne bhi, Amethi mera doosra ghar hai . Jai Hind."
..... <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo-->