Taking the district administration and local partymen by surprise, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi arrived unannounced in Varanasi on Tuesday morning.
District Magistrate Ravindra when contacted confirmed that the Congress MP is in the town, though he stated the district administration was not aware of his visit.
The local unit of the party was also unaware about the visit with Congress district president Anil Srivastava saying that he came to know of the arrival only in the morning.
According to officials, Rahul arrived at the Babatpur airport around 10.30 am and a cavalcade of three to four vehicles drove him to Seer Govardhan in Lanka area where he had darshan at the Ravidas Mandir before leaving for his onward journey, the details of which were not known.
Earlier too, the Congress leader had undertaken such unannounced extensive tours several times following which the Mayawati government has written to the Centre about his (Rahul's) security concerns.