Man with revolver spotted in crowd near Rahul Gandhi

Amethi: Rahul Gandhi's security was breached in his constituency of Amethi this afternoon. His Special Protection Group (SPG) officers spotted a man with a revolver near Mr Gandhi as the politician was exiting the stage at a public meeting.

The man, identified as Diwakar Soni, has been detained; his revolver was allegedly a licensed weapon.  Mr Soni wanted to give Mr Gandhi a note about his father's unsolved murder.  He said he did not intend to cause any harm.  

Mr Soni managed to slip by unnoticed by local policemen who form the outer circle of security for people like Mr Gandhi, who have SPG escorts.

It has been a day of considerable drama for Mr Gandhi.  When he arrived in Amethi in Uttar Pradesh this morning, his convoy was stopped by a group of protesters - locals who asked him not to field candidates who don't have a "clean image" for the state elections.

Mr Gandhi appeared unperturbed; he was seen talking with locals.

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Later, those who want tickets for the elections surrounded him.

Uttar Pradesh is scheduled to vote within the year. A mist of slow and steady corruption has settled over the image of the UPA government. Anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare has warned that he will personally campaign against Mr Gandhi's Congress in UP if the party does not ensure the Lokpal Bill is passed in the Winter Session of Parliament. The bill creates an independent agency empowered to investigate cases of corruption among public servants.

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Anna's representatives like Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi campaigned energetically against the Congress in last week's Lok Sabha election in Hisar in Haryana. By defeating the Congress, they urged, voters could prove their support for the urgent introduction of the Lokpal Bill. The Congress candidate lost his deposit, but both his party and analysts point out that he was not among the front-runners to start with, and that the loss cannot be attributed to "the Anna effect."