Congress president Sonia Gandhi's efforts to dissuade Arif Mohammad Khan from joining the Bharatiya Janata Party have failed.
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"Gandhi is the president of a national party and leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha. She had invited me for a cup of tea and I accepted it....I do not want to mix personal relations with politics," Khan told reporters after meeting Gandhi at her residence on Monday.
The Congress president is understood to have stressed the need for the secular forces to stand united in her meeting with Khan.
Khan, however, refused to comment on what was discussed at the meeting. "It would not be proper for me to disclose what transpired. But let me thank her for the gesture. She was extremely courteous and graceful," he said.
Asked if he would merely campaign for the BJP or formally join the party, Khan said: "I have left the decision to the BJP leadership. It is for them to decide."
