It was Rahul Gandhi's day out in Mumbai as he hopped out on to a local train and mingled with the people of Mumbai. Rahul's little detour send turned out to be a nightmare for Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, who set alarm bells ringing all the way to Delhi and forced Sonia Gandhi out of the Congress Working Committee meeting, being held at 24 Akbar Road.
Instead of boarding a helicopter to his next destination, Rahul got into a local train, went to an ATM, exchanged pleasantries with the people, all of whom had a great time meeting the junior Gandhi. He did all this without informing the CM and the state's security apparatus.
A jittery Chavan first called up reporters to get news of Rahul's location and then in desperation he called up 10 Janpath to inform them of Rahul's change in plan, as it was being seen as a big risk in the context of the Shiv Sena's resolve to greet him with black flags.
B V Wanchoo, head of the Special Protection Group in charge of security for 10 Janpath, had stepped out of the All India Congress Committee for just 10 minutes during the Congress working committee meeting which began at 1130 hrs. Wanchoo quickly returned to the party's headquarters and briefed Ahmed Patel about the situation in Mumbai.
Patel immediately alerted Sonia Gandhi who left the CWC meeting which continued uninterrupted, she briefly adjourned to her office in the AICC building.
Sources said that she spoke to