New Delhi, June 30 (IANS) Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu, who has raised the banner of revolt against Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, met former party chief Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday evening soon after meeting party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
The meeting lasted for an hour but Sidhu, who had tweeted his photo with Priyanka Gandhi, was tight-lipped about what transpired, and neither did the Congress make an official statement. Sources, however, that a solution is being worked on to defuse the tension between the two factions.
Ahead of the meeting with Sidhu, Rahul Gandhi had met Priyanka Gandhi and party chief Sonia Gandhi.
The cricketer-turned-politician's meeting with Rahul Gandhi came a day after the former party chief had said that no meeting was scheduled between him and Sidhu.
On Tuesday afternoon, Rahul Gandhi stepped outside his house to talk to reporters but when he was asked about meeting Sidhu, he seemed to rule it out. "No meeting," he had said.
Last week, Punjab Congress President Sunil Jakhar, Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal and MPs Pratap Singh Bajwa and Manish Tewari had met Rahul Gandhi and apprised him of the situation after infighting escalated in the state unit.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday termed the ‘meagre MSP hike for paddy as not only grossly inadequate, but also an insult to the farmers who have been fighting for their rightful dues through their anti-farm law agitation for the past six months.
India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi says people from China, including the Chinese nationals, have been able to travel to India despite the absence of direct air connectivity.
Personnel of Kolkata Police's Special Task Force ( STF) on Wednesday gunned down two Punjab gangsters believed to be involved in gun running and responsible for killing two policemen. The deceased duo has been identified as Jaspreet Jassi and Jaipal Bhullar.
In the early hours, Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad were clobbered with heavy rain, inundating several low-lying areas, barely a fortnight after the city survived the Cyclone Tauktae devastation.
Anto Alphonse, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), North Delhi, said that the police have arrested Kadir Ansari, 27, and Mohammad Arif, 37, both members of an inter-state drug smuggling racket active in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh with 32.5 Kg of cannabis.
The World Bank has lowered the growth projection for India for the financial year 2021-22 to 8.3 per cent. Its previous growth estimate for the fiscal was 10.1 per cent.
