Rahul Gandhi visits village in Andhra Pradesh

: Continuing his tryst with the common man, Congress party general secretary Rahul Gandhi made a surprise visit to the backward Mahabubnagar district in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday and interacted with some labourers.

Gandhi, who arrived here on a two-day visit, took everyone by surprise by departing from his scheduled programme to visit a village, about 100 km from here.

Soon after landing at the international airport at Shamshabad, about 30 km from the city centre, the young MP decided to undertake a surprise tour of a village instead of entering the city.

Though a large number of senior Congress leaders had turned up at the airport to receive him, he choose to go alone to the countryside to have first-hand information about labourers enrolled in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).

The Congress-led government's flagship welfare initiative is aimed at ensuring 100 days of employment to the rural poor every year. The Congress leader en route stopped at a road-side dhaba (eatery) near Jadcherla in Mahabubnagar district and had lunch.

He then reached Bhutpur village and interacted with a few labourers to know about the benefits of the scheme and their problems. He also attended a social audit programme of the scheme in a government building.

Officials were not ready to reveal the details of the closed-door interaction and the meeting. Villagers gathered to catch a glimpse of the Congress leader. A beaming Gandhi was seen waving at them and also gave autograph to a few people.

Earlier, Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, in charge of party affairs in the state M. Veerappa Moily, state Congress party president D. Srinivas and several state ministers accorded a warm welcome to Gandhi at the airport.

M. Jannatham, an MP expelled from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) for defying the whip to vote for the Congress-led government in Tuesday's trust vote, was also among the leaders who received him.

On Sunday, Rahul Gandhi will visit Gandhi Bhavan, the headquarters of the Congress party here, and interact with the leaders and workers.

Later, he will participate at the Aam aadmi ke sipahi camp at Miyapur on the city outskirts. The party workers in the camp are being trained to conduct social audit for government schemes and to disseminate information to people