The M S University (MSU) authorities may have denied permission to Rahul Gandhi to interact with the students on Thursday, but the Congress general secretary managed to dodge the authorities on Friday.

After his visit to VUDA traffic circle in Vadodara while coming from Saurashtra, Rahul’s cavalcade made an unscheduled entry to the main MSU campus.

The scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family, who is on a three-day visit to Gujarat, spent half an hour with the students in the Science faculty canteen and shared lunch with them. The students were celebrating Traditional Day.

Rahul told Newsline: “The government had not permitted me to enter the university premises. But as a person, nobody can stop me from doing so. It was my commitment to come to the M S University and I have fulfilled it. Nobody can stop me from doing this.”

Statistics student Janki Soni, who was dressed in a saree, said, “I never expected that Rahul Gandhi would spend 30 minutes with us. I was awed by his presence. We were surprised to see his conduct. He picked up a chair and sat with us just like a friend.”

He also made friendly contact with teachers and other university staff. “We shook hands, he smiled at me, saw the library office and left,” said Jagdish Pandya, Hansa Mehta Library accountant.

On Thursday, Gujarat Congress leaders had alleged that the MSU authorities buckled under pressure from the state government and denied him permission to interact with the students. Vice-Chancellor Ramesh Goyal had, however, cited security reasons for denying permission.