Hyderabad, Jan 30 (Agencies): Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi joined a protest march past midnight on Saturday at the Hyderabad Central University campus by students demonstrating against the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula earlier this month. He later spent the night on campus.

The students held a candlelight vigil for Mr Vemula, who would have turned 27 today. Some students said that Mr Gandhi will join a mass hunger strike campaign planned by protesters today.

Just hours before Mr Gandhi's visit today, the university changed its interim Vice-Chancellor. Interim VC Vipin Srivastava has gone on leave for four days. In his absence, M Periasamy, the next senior-most professor, will take charge.

Mr Srivastava, the senior-most professor at the university, was performing the duties after Vice-Chancellor Professor P Appa Rao, named in the police complaint in Rohith Vemula's death, went on an indefinite leave on Sunday. The university's decision to have Prof Srivastava officiate in place of Prof Rao had triggered fresh protests.

The SC/ST Faculty Forum and SC/ST Officers Forum had expressed "shock" over the decision to appoint Prof Srivastava as officiating Vice-Chancellor and alleged that he headed the Executive Council Sub-Committee "which has been responsible for the death of Rohith."