HUBBALLI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi met the family of party Dharwad unit president H V Madalli at Hallikeri village on Thursday. Madalli, who suffered an injury on Tuesday after falling off a bullock cart while campaigning for Congress candidate Vinod Asuti, passed away at a private hospital in Hubballi on Thursday.
Rahul, who landed at Hubballi airport, straight went to Madalli’s house in Hallikeri and paid tribute to him. During his brief interaction with party workers and family of Madalli, Rahul hailed the former’s contribution to the party. Later, he held a closed-door meeting with the daughters and son of Madalli for about 10 minutes. Rahul was accompanied by Minister H K Patil, AICC in- charge of Karnataka K C Venugopal, former MLA DR Patil, and party leader Manikayam Tagore.
Madalli’s son Venkatesh told reporters that Rahul expressed grief over the sudden death.
“Rahul did not speak much, instead he patiently heard about the achievements of my father. He also recalled many meetings with my father,” he said. Congress leader H K Patil told TNIE that Madalli was a true Congress man and his demise was a huge loss.