Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday led a foot march here to mark the start of Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary celebrations and to give a message against what the party called the "atmosphere of fear" in the country.

Congress leaders like K C Venugopal, R P N Singh, state unit president Ashok Chavan, Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil and others joined Rahul Gandhi as he began the march after garlanding a statue of the Father of the Nation near the district collector's office here.