MANDYA: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi resumed his Bharat Jodo Yatra on the sixth day from Mallenahalli Gate near Nagamangala. He was accompanied by party leaders K C Venugopal, Dhruvanarayan, Cheluvaraya Swamy, K B Chandrashekar and others.
As Rahul Gandhi started the padayatra on time, some leaders like B K Hariprasad, who were still having their breakfast, were left behind.
When some senior leaders like Jairam Ramesh and B K Hariprasad suggested that Rahul should wear khadi kurta during the Yatra, he told them that he was more comfortable in a T-shirt.
State Congress president D K Shivakumar is in Dehli after he was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate. Opposition leader Siddaramaiah, who was attending an all-party meeting at Bengaluru in the morning, joined the padayatra in the afternoon.
When the Yatra entered Nagamangala town, Rahul Gandhi waved to the crowds gathered there and walked some distance with some school girls and clicked selfies. He even took a selfie with a one-and-half-year-old girl on his phone. Giving the security personnel a scare, Rahul suddenly went towards the crowds that had gathered to shake hands and greet them.
A woman from the crowd rushed in to greet Rahul Gandhi and touched his hands. As her mask was slipping every now and then, party leader Cheluvaraya Swamy suggested that she take it off. But Rahul insisted that she wear it and even helped her fasten the mask. He even asked her what she was working as and she replied that she was a Kannada teacher.
Along the way, the Congress leader visited a banana plantation at Tolali village and even had tender coconut. When the Yatra stopped for lunch at Ancheboovanahalli, Rahul interacted with some education experts regarding the National Education Policy.
Enroute, free kababs were arranged for the yatris and people could be seen grabbing them by the handful.
The Yatra covered a distance of 11 km before the first break and 9 km before reaching Bellur town. The Yatris will stay overnight at the Adichunchanagiri Mutt.