Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi interacted with people at the airport while returning from Delhi, where they had travelled for meetings with the BJP's central leadership, officials said on Wednesday.
According to officials, the two leaders on Tuesday evening met travellers and other citizens at the IGI Airport in an informal setting, engaging with them without any formal protocol arrangements. They sat among members of the public and held conversations in a relaxed manner.
During the interaction, the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister spoke with several people present at the airport and listened to their concerns and experiences. Observers noted that the leaders spent time speaking directly with citizens rather than maintaining the usual security or protocol distance.
They also showed interest in creative items made from paper that were displayed by individuals present at the airport. The leaders asked about the process behind the paper artworks and obtained information about how the creations were made.
The interaction drew attention from people present at the airport, with several individuals gathering around the leaders during the informal conversation. Their friendly engagement with ordinary citizens was widely noticed by those present. The leaders were returning from a visit to the national capital where the Gujarat Chief Minister met Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The meeting between Patel and PM Modi took place in New Delhi on Tuesday evening and was also shared by the Prime Minister's Office on social media. While the details of the discussions were not officially disclosed, the meeting came at a time of increased political activity in Gujarat ahead of upcoming local body elections in the state.
Patel’s visit to Delhi was understood to include discussions with the Bharatiya Janata Party's central leadership on organisational matters and the state’s governance priorities. The interaction between the Gujarat leadership and citizens at the airport occurred after the engagements in the national capital.