BHOPAL: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi's recent visit to a Congress training camp in Madhya Pradesh's Pachmarhi has made headlines for an unusual reason: Gandhi complied with the camp's late-arrival punishment of 10 push-ups. Following his precedent, all other late-commers leaders also complied with the push-up punishment.
Informed sources recollected that Gandhi had arrived late for the training session on Saturday. The concerned training wing’s head Sachin Rao informed Gandhi that latecomers have to face punishment.
In a light-hearted manner, a curious Gandhi asked Rao, about what punishment was earned by him. Rao then told the Rae Bareli MP that he needed to do at least ten push-ups as punishment. Gandhi promptly complied and completed the punishment.
Not just did Gandhi do the push-ups, but also sat with the district and city unit chiefs on the floor, stressing on the principle of team-building and discipline within the party.
Gandhi reportedly also demonstrated the skills of Jujitsu (Japanese martial art) which help tighten one’s grips on the ground.
The session concluded, with Gandhi joining the district and city unit chiefs and their families at a special dinner.
Importantly, the MP Congress’s ongoing training camp in Pachmarhi (Narmadapuram) is part of the focussed ‘Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan’ which aims to rebuild the grand old party’s organisation across the BJP-ruled state.
While the former Congress national president attended the meeting of MP Congress leaders and later addressed the training session of district and city unit Congress heads on Saturday, he was taken on a jungle safari in Pachmarhi with other leaders on Sunday, before flying back to join the last day of campaign in assembly poll bound Bihar.
Talking to journalists before returning from Pachmarhi, Gandhi raised the issue of “vote-theft” and special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls again.
“Vote theft has not just happened in Haryana, but also in Maharashtra, MP and Chhattisgarh. We’ve more evidence about it, which we will continue to make public gradually. The SIR is an institutionalised system to cover up the vote-theft,” Gandhi told journalists at Pachmarhi before returning from there.
Earlier, while addressing the state Congress leaders and the training session of district and city Congress heads from MP, Gandhi had on Saturday stressed upon the need for strengthening the organisation, clarity of ideology and direct connect and dialogue with the people, which were necessary for making the party prepared fully for the 2028 assembly polls battle in MP.
Meanwhile, ruling BJP leaders mocked Gandhi's short trip to MP’s hill tourism hot spot, away from the heat and dust of poll bound Bihar.
Addressing a poll rally in the eastern state, MP CM Dr Mohan Yadav said, “At a time when the poll fever in Bihar is at its peak, the LoP Rahul Gandhi is on holiday at hill station in MP. It’s just like a groom running away from the marriage, while a fully decorated wedding horse awaits to take him to the marriage.”
Sharing a video of Gandhi relishing the jungle safari on a roofless vehicle in the dense hilly forests of Pachmarhi on Sunday, BJP’s national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla posted on ‘X’ (formerly twitter), “LoP means Leader of Paryatan and partying for Rahul Gandhi. Even as Bihar polls are on, he is enjoying jungle safari in Pachmarhi. This shows his priorities, when they lose elections, they will blame the EVM and do a power-point presentation of H-Files (holiday files).”