Rahul Gandhi meets Varun Gandhi at Kedarnath
New Delhi, Nov 7: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his cousin Varun Gandhi, a BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh, had a brief meeting at the Kedarnath temple on Tuesday where both had gone to offer prayers, sources said.
The meeting between the cousins, who are rarely seen together in public, triggered speculation in some quarters over Varun Gandhi's political future.
Varun Gandhi, the son of Sanjay and Maneka Gandhi, has not been seen at key BJP meets in recent months and his comments on crucial issues, including those on the now-repealed farm laws, have sometimes been at variance with the party's stand.
Sources told PTI that the Gandhis met briefly outside the revered shrine and exchanged pleasantries. They said the meeting was "very short" and "warm one".
Rahul Gandhi was "very happy" to meet Varun's daughter, they said, adding though the two cousins do not meet, they have maintained "good and civil" ties.
The sources also said that nothing political was discussed at the meeting.
During a press conference last year, when asked whether Varun Gandhi would be welcome in the Congress, Rahul Gandhi said though anybody was welcome, Varun has "adopted the ideology of the BJP/RSS" against which the Congress was fighting.
Rahul Gandhi has been at Kedarnath in Uttarakhand for the last three days, while Varun Gandhi visited the temple dedicated to Lord Shiva along with his family on Tuesday.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
