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New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi's repeated acts of breaking the security ring to meet with the masses is causing concern both in his Congress party and among the authorities.
The young party general secretary, being touted as the future of the 122-year-old Congress party, seems to have taken a fancy for slipping out uninformed, sharing meal with poorest of the poor and spending the night at their places, much to the chagrin of the security agencies.
Rahul, along with mother Sonia Gandhi, who heads the party, and sister Priyanka are among the most protected individuals in the country due to threats to the lives of the members of the elite Gandhi-Nehru family.
Rahul's father Rajiv Gandhi and grandmother Indira Gandhi, both prime ministers, were assassinated by extremists in the past. He is currently on a four-day tour of the opposition-ruled eastern Orissa state.
According to reports, Rahul gave the slip to the security personnel for the second time on Sunday night. Instead of spending the night at a sea-side resort organised by the state unit of the party, he went to Tanmana village in Ganjam district, had dinner with the villagers and spent the night with one of the families.
Earlier on Friday he visited a tribal hamlet that is supposed to be hotbed of the naxal activities, ate dinner and spent four hours while the sweating security agencies launched a search. "This is indeed a cause of concern for us, but there is little we can do before his youthful enthusiasm," a senior party leader here said.
Reaching out
The concerned party leaders intend to take up the matter with Rahul's mother Sonia since only she can prevail upon him.
Congress party old-timers say he not only resembles his father in looks but in the way he breaks security cordon.
Often in Delhi, he goes to restaurants unannounced to spend time with his personal friends or heads for suburban Gurgaon to hit a private racing track on weekends. However, he gave the first real chill to the security agencies on January 26 night while on a tour of his parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh.
He went to a lower caste village for a late night meeting with village women. Subsequently he shared dinner with one family and spent the night on a bamboo cot there, while the personnel of Special Protection Group, the elite security agency in charge of his security, were sweating after finding him missing.
The Orissa government has already lodged a protest with the federal Home Ministry for Rahul's repeated acts of visiting villagers breaching the security protocols.
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