Chennai (PTI): Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asked about the killing of her father Rajiv Gandhi when she met her in prison in 2008, Nalini Sriharan, one of the convicts freed in the former prime minister's assassination case said here on Sunday.

Priyanka Gandhi turned emotional and cried when she met her in the Vellore Central Prison over a decade ago, Nalini told reporters here answering a question on the meeting.

Now, a Congress party leader, she had then sought to know about the assassination of her father and Nalini said she divulged whatever she knew.

Other things that transpired in that meeting cannot be disclosed as it pertained to Priyanka's personal views, she said.

Nalini was freed on November 12 following a Supreme Court order.

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Panaji, Feb 27 (PTI): The sale of idli-sambar in beach shacks is causing a “decline” in international tourist footfall in Goa, claimed BJP MLA Michael Lobo on Thursday.

Addressing a press conference at Calangute in North Goa, Lobo said the government alone cannot be blamed if fewer foreigners visit the coastal state as all stakeholders are equally responsible.

Lobo rued that Goans have rented their beach shacks to businessmen from other places.

“Some people from Bengaluru are serving ‘vada pav’ in the shacks, some are selling idli-sambar. (That's why) International tourism has been declining in the state for the past two years," he said.

The legislator, however, did not elaborate on how the popular South Indian breakfast dish is affecting tourism in his state.

“There is a hue and cry because of the drop in tourist numbers. In the coastal belt, be it North or South, there has been a sharp fall in the arrival of foreign visitors. A lot of factors are responsible for this,” Lobo said.

Everyone, as stakeholders, should bear the responsibility for it, he said.

Lobo said some foreigners visit Goa every year, but younger tourists from abroad are going away from the state.

“The tourism department and other stakeholders should hold a joint meeting and study the reasons why foreign tourists are not ready to come to Goa,” he said.

Lobo said because of the war, Russian and Ukrainian tourists have stopped coming to Goa. “The tourists from former USSR countries have stopped visiting Goa,” he said.

The MLA said the state should sort out the crucial issues concerning tourism, including differences between the cab aggregators and local tourist taxi operators.

“If we don’t put a system in place, we will see dark days in the tourism sector,” he cautioned.