BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh Congress has "adopted" the 10-year-old newspaper hawker who gave a newspaper for free to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi , because he had no change.

On Saturday, State Congress chief Kantilal Bhuria met Kaushal Shakya and his father Dulichand Shakya at the party office here and announced, after felicitating the boy, that Congress was "adopting" him.

Bhuria said the party would give Rs 1,000 per month to the boy, who had told Rahul that he wanted to become a doctor.

Senior Congress leader Sajid Ali has offered a job to his father, a school drop-out, as a peon at a college run by Ali.

Kaushal, a class fifth student, sells newspapers. On April 25, when Rahul was heading for Raja Bhoj airport in a car, Kaushal approached him and requested to buy a newspaper.

Rahul took the newspaper and handed him a Rs 1,000 note, but the boy returned it, saying he had no change, and he was offering the copy for free.

The Congress vice-president then had a brief chat with him.