Chennai, Mar 2 (IANS): Senior Congress leader and former AICC President Rahul Gandhi on Monday accepted a 'push-up' challenge posed to him by a 10th standard student at Kanyakumari, where he was on a visit as part of his people connect programme during the election campaign in Tamil Nadu.

The student, Merolin Sheniga, who is also a judo enthusiast, asked Rahul Gandhi whether he could do push-ups with her, a challenge which the Congress leader readily accepted.

She said that they could do 15 push-ups and the senior Congress leader took it up with each doing one push-up after the other. Rahul Gandhi paused after each push-up while Merolin didn't. Rahul Gandhi then told the cheering crowd that Merlin had won the challenge.

It may be recalled that during his recent visit to Kerala, Rahul Gandhi had displayed his physical fitness by jumping into the sea at Kollam to express solidarity with the fishermen community of that state and to expose the Left government of Kerala entering into a contract with a US-based company for deep sea fishing which could lead to local fishermen losing out.

In another development on Monday, Rahul Gandhi visited a roadside tea shop near Kanyakumari and praised the owner of the shop, Murugan, saying "this is the best tea in Tamil Nadu".