One may have thought it would be an exciting way to begin the week — tracking Youth Congress in-charge Rahul Gandhi on his visit to Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad on Monday. But, the assignment turned out to be almost a wild goose chase at each of his nearly 10 meetings at different venues.

The Congress golden boy merely touched the venues, flashed dimpled grins in abundance, shook hands with some in the crowd and left. Rahul's visit to most of the venues did not last more than 10 minutes.

The day kicked off at Minaxi Plaza, Gandhinagar, where the common lawn opposite the helipad of Town Hall was a host to Rahul's seven-minute visit. Arriving an hour behind schedule, he quickly entered the shamiana erected at the venue, shook hands with youth from behind a barricade, waved at crowd and left.

"We believe that Rahul can make a difference to the country's politics. We have a lot of questions to ask him; we want to know his views on how Indian youths are placed vis-à-vis their counterparts in other countries and how we can make a difference. His answer will give us an insight into how he thinks and if he can really be the leader of tomorrow as he is projected to be," said Konark Rai and Bijal Brahmbhatt, first-time voters and Gujarat National Law University students.

This was before his visit. After waiting for an hour, the two were unable to interact with Rahul and returned disappointed. "Is this what we were asked to wait for?" asked another student who was apparently shaken by the stampede-like situation.

There may be several who idolise Rahul, but the moot point is whether they will actually vote for him to lead the country? From Gandhinagar, Rahul's convoy headed to Naroda, where he met youth leaders of the area. The next stop was the Indulal Yagnik statue at Khanpur. The visit lasted a total of 10 minutes. He offered his respect to Induchacha's statue, shook hands and interacted with some in the crowd.

What followed was hilarious. Breaking schedule, he headed straight to Agashiye for lunch, with a part of the convoy caught unawares and stranded near Nehru Bridge.

Soon after, he landed at Bhaikaka Bhavan to interact with around 250 young professionals.

From Law Garden, the convoy headed to Gujarat Vidyapith, Sabarmati Ashram, Kashiram Hall in Shahibaug for a Congress workers' meeting and editors' meeting at Circuit House.

'Join politics if you want to change it'
An interaction with young professionals in the city turned out to be the icing on Rahul Gandhi's visit. As part of the recruitment drive for the Youth Congress, he addressed an audience of 400 professionals at Bhaikaka Bhavan on Monday. After an introduction to internal party election process, Rahul fielded questions from attendees and spoke about his visions and ideas for the country and politics. Excerpts:

I do not have the time to commit to a political party. How can I contribute?

Rahul Gandhi: There are several politicians who are also fulltime professionals. One can contribute by being in the background, working within time constraints. One can work in a team, where several intellectuals offer ideas and highlight issues.

What criteria need to be met to be a politician?
RG: For the Congress, the primary criteria is that one should not have a criminal background, fundamentalist ideas or commitment to another party. The elections of the Youth Congress are open and democratic, and anyone can become a leader.

My perception is that
politics is dirty…

RG: Is this your perception or the image of politics that you have? If you think politics is dirty, something needs to be done. If you want to change the system, you need to be party to it to be able to make a difference.

I am an MBA from the UK. I feel the political and governance systems there are much simpler than here…
RG: It would be easier to manage a country like the UK as it is smaller than Gujarat. There are problems with our system. But, now that we have identified these, we can talk about solutions. And, from highly educated people like you, I expect solutions.