Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi made a one-day visit to Chhattisgarh on Sunday, stopping at Abhanpur near Raipur to address the Congress party's ongoing ten-day residential training camp for newly appointed district and city unit presidents. The visit lasted around four hours before Gandhi left for the airport — but not before pulling over at a roadside tea stall, where he had chai and fed biscuits to PCC chief Deepak Baij.

The camp, being held at Ashutosh-Alka Agarwal Mangal Bhavan in Abhanpur's Chandi Mor area, is part of the party's Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan — a ground-up organisational exercise ahead of future elections. Gandhi addressed district and city Congress presidents in a special session, focusing on booth-level strengthening, anti-BJP political narrative, and electoral strategy. Before that, he met senior leaders and former ministers for about 40 minutes, followed by a separate meeting with a delegation of around 70 people including former MLAs and MPs.

Sachin Patel, Bhupesh Baghel, TS Singh Deo, and Charandas Mahant were among the senior leaders present. The camp itself covers a range of sessions beyond political speeches — participants are being trained in yoga, martial arts, personality development, media handling, public outreach, and booth management. Leaders have also been assigned to stay in villages, understand ground-level conditions under MGNREGA, and engage with communities on issues like drug abuse.

The day, however, had its share of embarrassing moments for the party. State Leader of Opposition Charandas Mahant was caught in the crowd crush at the venue gate and reportedly could not get inside — a video of the incident circulated widely. A party worker from Jaijapur in Sakti district had ridden a motorbike all the way to meet Gandhi, having earlier made a failed attempt to meet him in Delhi the same way.

There was also quiet resentment over the welcome posters. Three state Congress co-in-charges — Sajrita Letfhlang, Sampat Kumar, and Vijay Jangid — objected to their photos being missing from the posters while other leaders' pictures featured prominently. The matter, according to sources, has been flagged to the party high command.

BJP hit back swiftly. MLA Purandar Mishra questioned what Gandhi had come to teach Congress workers, sarcastically asking whether it was a training in corruption or recycled political gimmicks. He also took a dig over Lord Ram, noting the irony of Gandhi visiting Chhattisgarh — described as Ram's maternal home — given the Congress's past statements on the issue. Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, attending a Yoga Day event in Ambikapur, remarked drily that people know what happens wherever Rahul goes.

Congress fired back just as quickly. Former MLA Vikas Upadhyay called Mishra an "accidental MLA" making unnecessary statements to stay relevant, adding that if BJP could not treat his apparent ment+al distress, Congress would be willing to step in.

The training camp has Patel scheduled to address participants in upcoming sessions as well, with the party positioning the exercise as its most serious attempt yet to strengthen the organisation at the grassroots before the next round of state and national elections.