TNN

Kendrapada, Apr 17: Not quite nightmarish. A forced stay at Kendrapada turned out to be a 'reasonably good night' for Rahul Gandhi, who was touched by the warmth of the people of the coastal town in Orissa. He spent the night there because the chopper that was supposed to fly him could not take off because of poor visibility.

But more than the forced stay, it was the absence of spare clothes, which made the AICC general secretary jittery. However, succour came from a party worker, who quickly bought a kurta, a pair of pyjamas, a towel and a pair of footwear. That was really comforting for Gandhi No 2.

"Rahul Gandhi offered me Rs 1,000. But how can I take money from him? He then said as per tradition one should not accept footwear as a gift. So he gave me a hundred-rupee note," said Sanjay Rout, son of former Kendrapada MLA, Indramani.

Rahul, who came to Kendrapada to campaign for Ranjib Biswal, put up at Hotel Golden Palace in the town's main bus stand area. "Once he came to know that he can't fly back, he asked me to make arrangements for his stay here," Biswal added.

No outsiders, including party leaders, were allowed to enter the hotel. The entire area was cordoned off by police and SPG personnel. "As per SPG guidelines, we, along with SPG, tightened security around the hotel and the entire Kendrapada town," SP Kumarmani Meher said.

Rahul had a frugal meal — dalma, an Oriya delicacy, rice, roti, dal and chicken curry. The cook was Mohammad Arif.

"Rahulji was very happy," hotel owner Siba Mohanty said. "I wanted to vacate some rooms from the security point of view. But Rahul told me not to disturb the guests," he said.

The guests were delighted at the gesture. "I was staying in the room adjoining Rahul's. He spoke to me and even shook hands with me. I will never forget the moment. It was so exciting that I could not manage a wink of sleep through the night," said Abhinav Kumar, who works with a private telecom company.