When Rahul Gandhi gave boxing lessons

As Rahul Gandhi battled it out on the streets of Jhansi taking up the cause of farmers, the Congress leader gave some impromptu boxing lessons to a young pugilist.

And if the boxer is to be believed, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family knows the sport.

On his way to the Divisional Commissioner's office on Friday, Rahul spent his time on road chatting with passers by, while scores of farmers waited to be identified before they could be let in. The Congress general secretary was earlier stopped by police and was not allowed to proceed.

Rahul stopped one athlete going for his coaching class on his tracks and rightly guessed the sport -- boxing -- he has taken up. He spent the next few moments trading punches with the surprised youngster, much to the amusement of the crowd.

"He asked me to show a cross-right punch while I was delivering hooks, he corrected me. He seems to know the game. He suggested me to graduate to bantam weight from my lightweight category," Imran Khan, a student of Christian Inter College, told reporters after his chat with Gandhi. Khan said Rahul also egged him on to punch harder.

Rahul also obliged a small girl accompanying her family, who wanted his autograph. He spent some time talking to her, while Gandhi's security men kept at bay a delegation of Women's Congress leaders, who wanted a meeting with the young leader.

After the meeting with the Divisional Commissioner, Gandhi walked down to see off the farmers and also trudged some distance to get blessings of elder farmers. He went inside the three buses ferrying the farmers and assured them that he would be back with them if the administration does not accede to their demands in a month.