THE MOTHER-son "aww moment" was captured on camera when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was spotted tying the shoelaces of his mother Sonia Gandhi who joined him and his party workers in "Bharat Jodo Yatra" in Karnataka on Thursday.

In the viral video, shared by many party leaders, Rahul can be seen bending to his knee to tie his mother’s shoelaces. Senior Congress leader and one of the contenders for the upcoming party presidential polls, Shashi Tharoor tweeted a photograph where Rahul is seen tying his mother's shoelaces. "There are blessings even when she breathes, no one can replace a mother as mothers are mothers,” Tharoor tweeted in Hindi.

Amid cheers and slogan-shouting by party workers, Sonia Gandhi walked beside her son Rahul Gandhi and other leaders for a few kilometres in Karnataka's Mandya district. “We have weathered many a storm and will overcome all challenges. Together we will unite India,” Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi and posted a photograph of him walking with his mother, his arm around her.

Another post from the party simply said “Ma” with a heart and the photograph of Rahul Gandhi tying Sonia Gandhi's shoelaces.

Sonia Gandhi joined the Bharat Jodo Yatra on the 27th day here and walked for around 30 minutes. She was scheduled to walk a short distance, but she continued and refused to turn back. She was supposed to fly back to Delhi in the afternoon, but party insiders said that she has changed her mind and will stay.

This is the first time Sonia Gandhi has joined a public event after recovering from COVID-19 earlier this year. She had last participated in a roadshow in Varanasi in August 2016 where she sustained a shoulder injury and later underwent surgery.

The ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, led by Rahul Gandhi will cover an almost a 3,500-km long march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.  The Yatra is seen as an attempt to rally the party rank and file for the upcoming electoral battles as the Congress suffered a debacle in the assembly polls held earlier this year.