Dhanbad, Oct 15 Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi met students of Indian School of Mines University (ISMU) here on Wednesday and assured them of taking up their demand for getting IIT status to the institute with the Union HRD ministry.

The students have been campaigning for a status equivalent to the premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

"He (Rahul Gandhi) told us that he has looked into the matter and has forwarded it to the Human Resource Department. More then 2,000 students waited in the ground to meet Rahul Gandhi and he obliged, he came to the ground and spoke to the students," said Manish Tiwari, a student.

"His response was positive, he gave us assurances that he would take the matter forward," said Divir Tiwari, another student.

Hundreds of students had earlier waited for hours together to meet him on the campus ground. The students were eagerly waiting to hand over representation to Rahul on their demand for IIT status to Indian School of Mines.

Rahul later addressed party workers in Ranchi.

"If we go to the people, listen to their problems, understand them and remain together and we stick to our ideology then no party in the country can defeat theCongress party," he said. (ANI)