Rahul Gandhi takes a truck ride from Delhi to Chandigarh

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi travelled in a truck from Delhi to Chandigarh to listen to the problems faced by truck drivers, the party said on Tuesday.

Gandhi undertook the journey Monday night and in visuals and videos, the former Congress chief, donning his trademark white T-shirt, is seen sitting inside a truck, travelling with a driver and speaking to drivers at a dhaba.

'Leader of the people @RahulGandhi ji reached among the truck drivers to know their problems. Rahul ji travelled with them from Delhi to Chandigarh,' the Congress said in a tweet in Hindi.

Gandhi also stopped near a Gurdwara in Ambala City along the Ambala-Chandigarh national highway early Tuesday morning and paid obeisance there.

'According to media reports, there are about 90 lakh truck drivers on the Indian roads. They have their own problems. Rahul ji did the work of listening to their 'Mann Ki Baat',' the Congress said.

Haryana Congress chief Udai Bhan told PTI that Gandhi travelled with truck drivers and halted en route and listened to the problems faced by them.

Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal shared a few pictures of Gandhi's travel on Twitter and said, "He spent the night conversing with truck drivers to understand the difficulties they face and what they immediately need."

"Listening to 'Jan Ki Baat' has always been the hallmark of our politics. The Bharat Jodo Yatra showed the nation what years of conniving propaganda had tried to hide, and now there is no going back," Venugopal said.

Congress' social media department head Supriya Shrinate shared pictures of Gandhi traveling in a truck and meeting with truck drivers.

'Rahul Gandhi is a different person. Today he is committed to bridging the widening gap between the general public and the government in this country. Then in this heat, be it sitting with the truck drivers all night and listening to their problems or travelling in a truck. In such a few people, the hope of a better future has arisen!' she said in a tweet in Hindi.

Congress sources said Gandhi was on his way to Shimla to spend some time with his mother Sonia Gandhi and on the way he decided to listen to the problems of truck drivers.

Station house officer of Baldev Nagar police station, Ambala City, Ram Kumar, said at around 4.30 am, Gandhi got down from a truck near Gurdwara Manji Sahib on GT road.

He went inside the gurdwara and paid obeisance and spent a few minutes there.

He also had tea in the 'langar' at the gurdwara, Kumar said.

Later, he again boarded a truck and left towards Chandigarh, the SHO said.

Bhan said Gandhi keeps meeting a cross section of people to first-hand know the problems they face.

"Even during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul ji interacted with various sections of people," he said.