Not only could he not go paragliding, the tight security placed locals virtually under house arrest
PUNE: The Congress party’s heir apparent Rahul Gandhi had to return disappointed from the Karanjgaon hills near Pune on Thursday as the weather did not permit him to fly his maiden paragliding sortie, even as the people of Uksan Gaon and at least 25 other hamlets nearby heaved a sigh of relief.
Rahul’s securitymen had virtually placed the villagers under house arrest. They have not been able to get their weekly quota of groceries from the market in Kamshet because private vehicles were not allowed to ply.
It is not only the villagers who had to put up with the Special Protection Group’s demands. Several residents of bungalows at Uksan Gaon were asked to vacate their homes for a few days. All complied, except one who refused to leave for “anybody in the world”. “I will not vacate my home even if the PM wants to come and stay next door,” he is reported to have told the SPG.
After two days of practising on the ground, Rahul had left the bungalow he was staying in at 3 pm on Thursday with great expectations of making a sortie on the bright yellow paraglider prepared exclusively for him.
But like during his first independent political assignment — the assembly election campaign in Uttar Pradesh —the wind did not favour him and he couldn’t get airborne.
Rahul and company waited till 4.30 pm at the Shelar Valley point near Karanjgaon for a favourable wind but in vain. He ultimately returned to Mumbai enroute to Delhi.
