Priyanka Gandhi to visit Assam on Feb 18, will meet with party officials
Guwahati (PTI): Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is scheduled to visit Assam on a two-day trip starting February 18 to take part in a series of party meetings ahead of state assembly elections, a state leader said on Sunday.
Vadra, a Congress general secretary and parliamentarian, is the chairperson of the party's screening committee for the upcoming Assam assembly elections.
State Congress general secretary (organisation) Bipul Gogoi said in a statement that Vadra will hold a series of meetings with different office bearers of the Congress during the two days.
She will be holding separate meetings with the political affairs committee, MLAs, district presidents, frontal group heads, legislature party leader, working presidents, MPs, different cell heads and booth committee chiefs, among others.
Vadra will leave for Delhi on the evening of February 19, Gogoi said.
The Assam Assembly elections for 126 constituencies are likely to take place in March-April this year, and the Congress is looking to contest the polls in an alliance with several other opposition parties.
Imran Masood and Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, both Lok Sabha MPs, along with Sirivella Prasad, are the members of the screening committee.
Presently, the ruling BJP's strength in the 126-member Assam Assembly is 64, while its allies AGP has nine MLAs, UPPL has seven, and BPF has three members.
In the opposition camp, the Congress has 26 members, AIUDF 15 and CPI(M) has one MLA. There is one Independent legislator also.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
