The Hindu : National : Sonia Gandhi meets President

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Tuesday, Oct 09, 2007
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Sonia Gandhi meets President

Gargi Parsai

No official word on meeting

NEW DELHI: United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi had an unscheduled meeting with President Pratibha Patil on Monday. The meeting lasted 30 minutes.

Coming as it did on the heels of Ms. Gandhi expressing the Congress’ readiness to face mid-term elections and the uproar over her remarks at a rally in Haryana on opposition to the nuclear deal, the visit caused a flutter in the political circles. Her meeting also precedes a crucial meeting of the UPA-Left committee on the nuclear deal on Tuesday.

There was no official word on the meeting, described by the Rashtrapati Bhavan sources as “a courtesy call.”

On Monday, the All-India Congress Committee cancelled its official briefing and issued a signed statement clarifying that Ms. Gandhi’s remarks at the rally in Jhajjar were not directed at the Left parties but were only in the “context of Haryana, its development and the power project.”

Ms. Gandhi had said at the rally that those opposed to the nuclear deal were enemies of the Congress and development and should be given a befitting reply.

Clarification on speech

In a signed statement, secretary of the AICC Media Department, Tom Vadakan, said: “No inference, whatsoever, should be drawn [from Ms. Gandhi’s Jhajjar speech], which will be quite extraneous in nature.”

AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh also told media persons here that her remarks were with reference to Haryana.

They were directed at the Opposition parties in Haryana on power issues.

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