Rahul Gandhi, sources close to him say, never made secret his appreciation of the Aam Aadmi Party's style of connecting to people across classes. After the results of the 2013 Delhi assembly elections were out, he remarked that the Congress should learn a few things from the AAP. His party had just been reduced to a mere eight seats in the 70-member house after being in power for 15 years and his remark at that point attracted ridicule. The next year saw his party tumbling to its worst ever performance in a general election, winning only 44 MPs. It was obvious that the party had lost its base among all sections. Now in a hurry to arrest the alarming slide, he is busy following the AAP model of reaching out to people. The impact is visible.