And it worked.

The farmers followed him as he undertook his walk through the dusty villages of western Uttar Pradesh, braving the miles of untarred roads, the humid climate and the tiring journey.

Having walked for a good 27 km on Wednesday, Gandhi had chosen a house at random in Sairol village, Aligarh district.

Villagers looked in disbelief as Gandhi waived away Congress workers' help in securing a good place for him to spend the night. He walked through the village after interacting with the villagers in the temple courtyard and stopped in front of a house.

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"As the news spread that Rahulji will stay at a house in the village, almost all the villagers came out of their houses, hoping he would choose them. He passed by my house, then turned back and asked me for permission to stay. I was too stunned to speak for some time. Finally, I invited him to sit on a charpoy and offered him water," an elated Harkesh said.

He asked for a bucket on spotting a hand pump in Harkesh's courtyard. The farmer protested, but Gandhi insisted to pump the water out himself and then went for a bath.

He again connected, when he refused to eat a buttered roti offered to him, saying he would eat the dry roti the rest of the family was having for their meal.

The next six hours would see him shuffle between four villages and cover over 20 km. He covered Kripalpur, Khangru, Kansera before finally stopping for lunch and a nap at Sibroli. At about 17.00 hours, he undertook a 5 km walk to Zikrapur before stopping for the night at Marorgadi.

"You have been paid Rs 570 per square metre but the original price of land is Rs 10,000. Who is stealing? Your government is stealing, Lucknow is stealing and that too without even consulting you," Gandhi said addressing a similar crowd at Marorgadi.

Said Harkesh, ''I made it very clear to Rahulji that what he is doing is admirable, but unless the Congress comes out with a good alternative bill to replace the age old law that Mayawati is using to take our land, they don't have a future in UP.''

"They too used force to evict more than 20,000 people who were protesting against corruption and black money. Moreover, the UPA government has been responsible for the unbearable inflation," he added.

A villager of Kripalpur, Manish Kumar said, "Rahul Gandhi is trying to project the UPA's image as people-friendly but inflation is the biggest enemy of a common man. Till they curb it, they can't call themselves people-friendly."