Thaindian News

Lucknow, March 27 (IANS) Tempted by the sight of freshly-fried samosas and bread pakoras, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Saturday could not resist from stopping at roadside joints to get them packed while driving through an Uttar Pradesh town.
Gandhi, who was returning after holding a meeting with Congress activists on the last-day of his tour of his parliamentary constituency Amethi, stopped his cavalcade after he came across fresh samosas and bread pakoras at two different eating joints, adjacent to each other, in Jais town in Sultapur district, some 150 km from Lucknow.

“He was so tempted by the samosas and pakoras that within no time he got down from his vehicle and approached the eating-joint owners to get the items packed,” Congress spokesperson Akhilesh Pratap Singh told reporters.

The owners of both the roadside-eating joints were taken by surprise when they noticed Gandhi standing at their shop.

“Meeting Rahulji was definitely unexpected for me. I will not forget the experience till I am alive. Like any normal customer, he stood before me and asked for the samosas,” Ram Khilawan, owner of one of the eating joints, told reporters.

According to Singh, Gandhi tried his best to pay for the samosas and pakoras he took from the shops, but their owners did not take the money.

“The gesture of the shop owners only reflects the affection and love Rahulji enjoys amongst masses. At the same time, the incident also reflects how Rahulji gets connected to the common man,” Singh said.

As Gandhi stood at the roadside joint, a large number of people watched him from a distance, as the security personnel did not allow anyone to go to the shop at that time.