Rahul opens constituency Gates for Microsoft chief

Source:12 May 2010, 0337 hrs IST,Man Mohan Rai,ET Bureau




LUCKNOW: Rahul Gandhi is well-known for his nightouts in remote villages, sharing meals with poor villagers, but on Tuesday he managed to convince one of the world’s richest person, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, to do the same in his constituency, Amethi.

Although no official confirmation was available, sources said that Mr Gandhi was likely to take Mr Gates to Simara village in Amethi, where he had earlier taken the British Foreign Secretary David Milliband, to spend a night with a Dalit villager, Shivkumar Kori, in his hut.

Mr Gates along with the Congress MP landed at the Fursatganj airstrip on Tuesday morning, then drove to Bahadurpur village, near Jais town, where the Microsoft boss addressed members of a self-help group of women, Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojana.

Explaining them the importance of computer education, Mr Gates promised the villagers to try and develop Amethi and Rae Bareli (Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s constituency) as an IT hub.

Mr Gandhi took Mr Gates to several villages in the area where the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, funded by the private fortune of the Microsoft founder, has been working for the last few years.

About a month ago, Ms Melinda Gates had also visited some villages in the Amethi-Rae Bareli region. On her visit she had committed Rs 250-crore for various health programmes in Uttar Pradesh.

While no confirmation was available, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is expected to collaborate with the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust for running various welfare programmes in the two constituencies. Several members of the Foundation, regarded as one of the biggest charitable trusts in the world, were also part of the visit.

Mr Gates visit to the area was kept a closely guarded secret with even Congress party leaders were unaware of the programme.

Mr Gandhi has over the past couple of years been travelling to remote villages where he spends the night talking to villagers about their problems and sharing meals with them. He had earlier got British foreign secretary David Milliband to do the same in Simara village in Amethi where they spent the night in the ramshackle hut of Shivkumar Kori.

Sources said that Mr Gates is also expected to spend the night at the Simara village to take a closer look at the village life. He will leave for New Delhi on Wednesday morning, while Mr Gandhi is expected to stay back in Amethi.