Modi leaves for SCO Summit in China
New Delhi, June 9 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday left for Qingdao, China, to take part in the 2018 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit where on the sidelines he will hold a bilateral summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
This will be the first time India will be participating in the SCO Summit after being granted full membership of the bloc, along with Pakistan, in June 2017.
The SCO is an Eurasian inter-governmental organisation, the creation of which was announced in 2001 in Shanghai by Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It was preceded by the Shanghai Five mechanism.
"SCO focusses on political, economic, security and cultural cooperation and enables India to engage with Central Asian countries," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted as Modi departed.
After his arrival on Saturday afternoon in Qingdao, Modi is scheduled to hold the bilateral meeting with Xi.
It comes over a month after their informal summit on April 27-28 in Wuhan on a Chinese invitation, when they pledged to keep the India-China border quiet and personally guide their respective armies to avert a Doklam-like military stand-off in future.
Modi is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with leaders of other SCO member states on the sidelines of the Summit.
On Friday, Modi said that the SCO meeting will herald a new beginning for India's engagement with the Eurasian bloc.
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Allahabad High Court directs Centre to decide on Rahul Gandhi's citizenship by December 19
Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court has instructed the Union Home Ministry to decide on a petition regarding Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Indian citizenship. The Bench, led by Justice Attau Rahman Masoodi and Justice Subhash Vidyarthi, set a deadline of December 19, 2024, for the government to update the Court on the matter.
The petition, filed by S Vignesh Shishir, requests a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into allegations that Rahul Gandhi holds British citizenship. Shishir claims that evidence, including confidential emails shared by VSS Sarma, suggests Gandhi may be a British citizen. However, due to UK data protection laws, the British government has not disclosed full details without Gandhi's consent.
During the November 25 hearing, Deputy Solicitor General SB Pandey informed the Court that the Home Ministry is reviewing the representation. The Court directed the government to report on the status of the petition by the next hearing on December 19.
A similar petition challenging Rahul Gandhi's citizenship is pending before the Delhi High Court, where the matter will be heard after the Allahabad High Court's proceedings.
