Sri Lankan President Rajapakse meets Sonia Gandhi

     New Delhi: Continuing with his parleys with the Indian leadership, visiting Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Thursday met Congress party president Sonia Gandhi and several Left party leaders in the capital. Sonia held a brief meeting with the visiting President during which she was briefed about the situation in the island nation's escalated violence. Later on, some of the Left leaders also paid a visit to the Sri Lankan President. Prakash Karat, general secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist), along with AB Bardhan, of the Communist Party of India, called on the leader. Rajapakse, on his first ever visit abroad after being elected as the president last month, had briefed Indian leaders about the progress on the peace process with Tamil Tigers.

     Earlier, yesterday, Rajapakse met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and had extensive talks on a wide range of issues, including India's possible role in Sri Lanka's peace process. Dr. Singh and Rajapakse discussed several topics related to the bilateral relations and ways of enhancing mutual cooperation in various fields, particularly in economic field between India and Sri Lanka. The hawkish leader, who is on a four-day official visit to India, is looking towards India's support to Colombo's peace bid with the Tamil Tigers, but analysts say that he is unlikely to meet with much success. Pressure from Indian Tamil groups in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's coalition government and past experience, when India badly burnt its fingers trying to bring peace to its southern neighbour, would discourage Delhi from getting involved in the island's latest troubles, they say. India has expressed concern over a sudden spurt in violence in Sri Lanka saying it could hamper the ceasefire that is on with the Tamil rebels.