Rae Bareli (UP): Like Kalavati, turned overnight into a mascot of the underprivileged by Rahul Gandhi after he narrated her plight in Lok Sabha, another poor woman Vidyavati on Monday had Sonia Gandhi coming to her aid when the Congress president visited a Dalit hamlet in her constituency.
Clasping Gandhi's hand, the middle-aged woman took the Congress chief, who interacted with residents of Aghoura village in Rae Bareli on the first day of her three-day stay, to her dilapidated hut which didn't even have a charpoy.
After the woman narrated her woes, a visibly moved Gandhi asked her representative to ensure that the woman gets an Indira Awas house and other benefits. All the while Vidyavati held Gandhi's hands while cameras clicked on.
Dressed in a striped brown sari with her head covered, Gandhi, who is affectionately called 'Bahu' (daughter-in-law) by elderly women in her constituency, frequently got down from her vehicle to accept their greetings.
"Where is the ADM?" Gandhi asked when the women pointed to the anomalies in various schemes and complained that they were not getting foodgrains.
With her party locked in a turf war for Dalit votes, Gandhi mostly chose to hold the 'chaupal' meetings at the houses of Dalits, sitting on a charpoy amidst men and women and chatting about their day-to-day problems.
Gandhi also visited the house of Rameshwar Pasi in the same village, where the conditions were no different.