Chandigarh, May 23, 2023, IANS

Chandigarh, May 23 (IANS) Just days after the party's landslide win in the Karnataka polls, a video on Tuesday went viral depicting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a holiday mood hitch-hiking a truck on the Delhi-Chandigarh national highway while heading to Shimla.

He was on way to his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's cottage, located amid forests of pine and cedar in the suburbs of the Himachal Pradesh capital where she was recently holidaying with her family, when he took a ride of the truck on the Delhi-Chandigarh national highway near Ambala in Haryana.

Rahul Gandhi took the truck ride in Haryana from Murthal to Ambala to speak to the drivers to understand their issues and problems, party sources said on Tuesday.

According to Congress sources, he arrived in Haryana's Murthal around 11 p.m.

From Murthal, he took a truck ride around 12 in the midnight and reached Ambala.

During his journey from Murthal to Ambala, the Congress leader spoke to the truck drivers about the issues and problems they face. He also spoke to them about other issues bothering them most and how they can be sorted out.

After reaching Ambala, Rahul Gandhi then proceeded towards Himachal Pradesh's Shimla via road route.

However, party leadership remained tight-lipped on the late night journey of Rahul Gandhi.

One of his fans wrote on Twitter that he took the ride to understand issues faced by heavy vehicle drivers as they work overnight.

In one of the videos posted on social media, Rahul, riding on a truck, was seen waving at passersby.

"You can disqualify him from the Parliament but will never disqualify him from people's hearts," wrote a Twitter user.

Rahul will stay in Priyanka's cottage -- with wooden frames and shingled exteriors and a sloping tiled roof -- at a height of more than 8,000 feet in Chharabra, some 15 km uphill from here.

Rahul Gandhi since last month had visited Bengali Market, Jama Masjid area and enjoyed the local food among the public.

He then also visited North Delhi's Mukherjee Nagar area to interact with the UPSC aspirants and then a few days later he had lunch with the Delhi University students at PG Men's Hostel.

The Congress had also visited the Shakur Basti area in Delhi and spoke to the slum dwellers about the fear in which they live.

The women residents of Shakur Basti area had pointed out to Rahul Gandhi about the fear of bulldozers razing their homes and also other issues like no proper water supply, prices of essential items skyrocketing and how they are unable to buy LPG cylinders.