A lot to eat and drink as Gandhigiri takes on Annagiri

Anna Hazare’s supporters who reached Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s residence here on Friday evening ended up at the receiving end of Gandhigiri.

The demonstrators found themselves being welcomed at 12 Tuglak Lane and staff of the elite Special Protection Group (SPG) served samosas and soft drink to them.

More than 200 Hazare supporters — many of them appeared to be college students — gathered outside Rahul’s residence after his criticism of Hazare’s fast.

Upon reaching there, they raised slogans like “Desh ka yuva yahan hai, Rahul Gandhi kahan hai”.

“We did not expect such statement from a young congress leader (Rahul). Instead he should have come in support of Anna’s campaign,” Uma Shankar, one of the protesters, told DNA,The police cracked down on the protesters bundling them into buses and carrying them away.

A few managed to get close to Rahul’s residence, but they were chased away by the police.

“We are protesting against the corrupt government. Anna has been fasting for 11 days and this government is not listening,” said another protester, Adity.

They have asked people who support Anna’s anti-corruption movement to make their voices heard at the houses of MPs and ministers.

Anna supporters have for the past few days picketed houses of MPs, including finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and BJP leader LK Advani. They had also protested in front of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Race Course Road residence on Thursday.