Congress president Rahul Gandhi has been known to hit the headlines for his flubs. So it was kind of obvious that something being thrown at him would definitely make news.
However, that something turned out to be a garland, thrown at Rahul during a roadshow Wednesday in poll-bound Karnataka, and it landed so nicely around his neck that some Congress activists are seeing it as a good sign ahead of the Assembly elections in the state!
And to top it all off, the entire thing was caught on camera, and has since gone viral on social media platforms.
The incident took place Wednesday during a roadshow in the Tumakuru district, where Rahul Gandhi was campaigning for the Congress. BJP president Amit Shah had campaigned in the same district a few days ago.
In the video, Rahul Gandhi is seen waving at a group of people from his open-top SUV when suddenly a hand in the crowd throws a garland in his direction. The garland goes flying and lands neatly around Rahul's neck. The Congress president looks taken aback for a second, but he takes it off and continues to wave back at his supporters.
While a few Congress leaders like Rakshith Shivaram have interpreted the incident as a positive sign for the party, others have raised security concerns.
True fan of Rahul Gandhi !
— Manjunath Naglikar (@manjunathn2) April 5, 2018
Somewhere in Karnataka A Congress Worker throws a Jasmine Flower Garland at @RahulGandhi & it sits on his neck Perfectly. #JanaAashirwadaYatre#RahulGandhi #Congress #KarnatakaElection2018 pic.twitter.com/uFPxzl4WAV
At @RahulGandhi #JanaAashirwadaYatre in Karnataka, garland thrown at him, lands perfectly around his neck. ?
— Abdul ✋? (@GuruJiPolitical) April 5, 2018
This could be a security breach,but as far as nothing went wrong. It’s good to see garland landing perfectly in neck. ?? pic.twitter.com/eiHxWLZ1dJ
The police are currently carrying out a probe to determine whether the incident was a security breach.
Rahul Gandhi is on his fifth round of campaigning in Karnataka and is vying hard to ensure that his party remains in power in the state.
Though the Congress has been hailed by the Lingayat community in Karnataka, especially after the government's notification to give "minority religion" status to Lingayats and Veerashaiva-Lingayats, the BJP has also deployed Amit Shah to reduce the damage done by the move.
Shah has visited strongholds of the Lingayat and Dalit communities in Karnataka over the past few days and also promised the seers of the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community that the Union government would reject the state government's recommendation to split the Lingayat community.
Here's the video of the Rahul Gandhi's roadshow:
A garland flies from the crowd and falls exactly on @RahulGandhi ji at the Tumkur road show. The signal is clear and loud. @INCKarnataka @siddaramaiah @INCMalleswaram @MYaskhi pic.twitter.com/OKSa0nPQLQ
— Rakshith Shivaram (@bkrs100) April 4, 2018
