Khanna, April 19
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi paid a surprise visit to a party workshop in the town today. His sudden appearance at the workshop took many party workers by surprise.

The local police was on its toes as officers were informed about the visit at the last moment. DIG MF Farooqui and Khanna SSP S Bhupati were seen supervising the security arrangements.

Wearing blue jeans and white “kurta”, Rahul arrived at the venue on the Samrala-Khanna highway around 12.15 pm from Chandigarh.

He addressed a gathering of around 200 Congress office-bearers, including Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Partap Singh Bajwa, Union Minister Manish Tewari and Leader of the Opposition in Assembly Sunil Jakhar.

Rahul touched upon issues concerning the organisational structure of the party in the state and took the views of office-bearers drawn from Ludhiana, Ropar, Patiala and Anandpur Sahib. The workers were later given a questionnaire seeking suggestions for strengthening the party.

Rahul refused to interact with mediapersons and left the venue after his hour-long interaction session. He took a chartered plane from Sahnewal airport in the afternoon.

Anandpur Sahib MP Ravneet Bittu said: “Only a few leaders knew about Rahul’s visit. He had told us that he would visit one of our workshops.”

Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur said the visit was aimed at boosting party workers’ morale and assessing the position of the party at grass-roots level.

Bajwa said the interaction was held to consolidate organisational structure of the party before the Lok Sabha elections.

PPCC chief Partap Singh Bajwa lambasted the ruling SAD-BJP government over politicising the Bhullar issue and said political parties should not comment on the Supreme Court judgement. He accused Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal of having double standards.