Raipur:

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday travelled by a train from Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur district, where he addressed an event, to state capital Raipur and interacted with passengers on board.

He was on a day-long visit of the Congress-ruled state, where assembly polls are due by the year-end.

The ruling Congress has routinely claimed the Railway ministry had cancelled 2,600 trains in the state in the last few months, which was causing immense hardship to people.

Mr Gandhi attended ‘Awas Nyay Sammelan’, an event of the Congress government on housing, in Parsada (Sakri) village under Takhatpur development block of Bilaspur district, around 125 km away from Raipur, in the afternoon.

After the event, the Lok Sabha MP boarded the Bilaspur-Itwari Intercity train from Bilaspur along with Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Congress state in-charge Kumari Selja and state unit president Dipak Baij, among others. They travelled in a sleeper coach.

The train arrived at Raipur railway station at 5:50 pm, where Gandhi was welcomed by a large number of Congress workers and leaders, including party MLA Kuldip Juneja.

State Congress chief Baij told reporters that Mr Gandhi interacted with passengers, including children, during the train journey.

A girl with whom Mr Gandhi interacted on board the train said she is a hockey player and told the Congress leader about the deteriorating condition of the astroturf ground in Rajnandgaon.

“I told him that we want a new turf,” said the girl, who hails from Rajnandgaon district.

She was accompanied by some other hockey players.

Mr Gandhi enquired about training and other facilities being provided at the Khelo India Centre in Rajnandgaon to players, said a man accompanying the athletes.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)