Raebareli (UP) (PTI): Rahul Gandhi has sent a gift after almost three months to the barber's shop here, where he got his beard and hair trimmed during the Lok Sabha election campaign.

Barber Mithun has expressed happiness after receiving the gift.

Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP from Rae Bareli parliamentary seat, had attended a public meeting in Lalganj on May 13 during the Lok Sabha election campaign. While leaving, Gandhi stopped at barber Mithun's shop in Brijendra Nagar and got his beard trimmed.

Mithun on Friday said that Rahul Gandhi had talked to him for a long time.

"After more than three months, suddenly on Thursday, a vehicle stopped near my shop. Two people unloaded two chairs, a shampoo chair, inverter set, etc. from that vehicle and handed them over," Mithun said.

Mithun was told that these goods were sent by Rahul Gandhi, a party office bearer said, and added that Mithun was happy at this and expressed gratitude towards Gandhi.

Spokesperson of UP Congress Anshu Awasthi said, "Rahul Gandhi always meets different sections of the people, understands their needs and their work on the ground. During the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi got his hair and beard trimmed at Mithun's salon in Lalganj, Raebareli."

"Rahul Gandhi sent Mithun the barber the things he needed for his work, including a shampoo chair, two hair-cutting chairs and an inverter battery. He does this work, so that people in politics, the social sector and Congress leaders and workers also promote this kind of support and encouragement. It is a matter of pride for us," Awasthi said.

The president of the district Congress unit of Raebareli, Pankaj Tiwari said, "The information about the goods being sent by the MP was received through social media. If the goods have arrived, then it is a very good thing."

Earlier, on July 26, Rahul Gandhi had made an unscheduled surprise visit to Ram Chet's shop in Vidhayak Nagar on the outskirts of Sultanpur on his way back to Lucknow from Sultanpur after appearing in a district court in connection with a defamation case.

A day after Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi made a brief halt at his shop, cobbler Ram Chet on July 27 got a sewing machine from the Congress leader.

 

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Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.

There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.

The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.

On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.

The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”

Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.

A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.

The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.

Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.

More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.

Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.

In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.