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Advani pays PM, Sonia Gandhi a visit

By Sheela Bhatt in New Delhi
Last updated on: March 22, 2008 20:51 IST
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L K Advani, leader of the Bhartiya Janata Party, met Congress president and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Saturday afternoon at the latter's residence at 10, Janpath in New Delhi.

Advani and Gandhi are considered to be bitter political rivals and have been severely critical of each other's political ideologies.

According to sources, Advani had sought time to meet Gandhi to gift her his recently-released autobiography 'My Country, My Life'. The meeting lasted nearly 15 minutes.

Advani also called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to greet him on the occasion of Holi.

Advani, accompanied by his wife Kamla, had separate meetings with Gandhi and Dr Singh, who he has often dubbed as a 'weakest Prime Minister' India has ever seen.

Advani's autobiography talks about Gandhi's foreign origin issue and accuses her of 'active and irrefutable collusion in covering up the role of Italian Ottavio Quattrocchi in the infamous Bofors scandal'.

In the context of the Quattrocchi issue, Advani writes in the book, 'It is devoid of any political morality and unbecoming of a person aspiring to hold highest executive office in India'.

In one of his promotional interviews, Advani, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, had regretted the lack of communication between himself, Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had warm relations with both Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, who was leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha during the NDA government's rule.

Additional reportage: PTI

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Sheela Bhatt in New Delhi