Rahul to say 'chak de' with Jharkhand girls

After his tour of Orissa and Karnataka, Rahul Gandhi is set to visit the state of Jharkhand in his 'discover India' tour-series.

The tour, planned for seven days in the tribal-dominated areas, will also provide the young Gandhi his own 'chak de' moment ""Gandhi wants to participate in a hockey match with the star-studded women's hockey team of the state.

Gandhi, who got admission in Delhi's prestigious St Stephan's College through sports quota, has asked his aides to prepare a friendly match involving the women players.

Two members from his task force were in Jharkhand during the past few days to make preparations for his tour. According to sources, Gandhi's Jharkhand tour may start from April 22.

Jharkhand has a galaxy of hockey players with Samurai Tete, India's women's hockey captain hailing from the state. Under her leadership, the team won the silver medal in the Commonwealth Games in Australia. Apart from Tete, players like Masira Surin and Kanti Ba are some of the top players in the national hockey team.

But Rahul Gandhi's proposed game with the women's team is not seen as a mere stunt but also a political move to convey the party's caring attitude towards the tribals, especially women.

As the number of SC/ST seats in the Lok Sabha has increased in the delimitation exercise, the Congress wants to project itself as a champion of the tribal causes. In Orissa and Karnataka too, he has spent a lot of time among the tribals.

Gandhi has issued strict instructions to his task force members that no major advertisement campaign of his tour should be done. He has made it clear to his colleagues that the focus of these tours should be to allow common people interact with him. He wants to listen as much as possible the grievances of the common man.

In Karnataka, Gandhi held a lot of unscheduled meetings with the local people who directly told him about the problems of the government's delivery mechanism.

In Jharkhand too, he is expected to give emphasis to direct interaction with people and avoid big meetings and mass rallies. Gandhi has also told his aides that he would not read out any written speech during these tours but prefer extempore talks.

According to an AICC general secretary, he is aware that the Opposition will create an issue if he uses written speeches. Slowly, Rahul Gandhi is trying to build up his own image and doesn't want to give any loose points to the Opposition, he added.