Rahul Gandhi in university visit row, Jamia trip rescheduled

(Credit: IANS) With controversy dogging his visits to universities, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's proposed visit Saturday to Jamia Millia Islamia here has been "rescheduled" for the time being.

Gandhi's Jamia visit "will be rescheduled soon", a Congress source told IANS, adding: "He will continue to interact with students".

"He was held up in some of his outside-Delhi programmes and that's the reason why he could not make it to Jamia," the party source said.

He also said the Jamia visit was not scheduled for Saturday as reported by some media organisations. Party leaders said rescheduling of the Jamia visit has nothing to do with the controversy related to Gandhi's visit to the Devi Ahilyabai University, Indore, earlier this week or his addressing students in the Goa University campus.

The higher education department of Madhya Pradesh has served notices to the vice-chancellor and registrar of the university demanding an explanation for the Congress leader's visit to the campus.

The notices seek a reply from the university on how Gandhi was allowed to visit the university and interact with students without prior permission from the state government.

In Goa, Governor S.S. Sidhu has intervened in the controversy involving Rahul Gandhi's political meetings in the university campus on Tuesday. Sidhu, chancellor of the university, has sought a "factual report" from vice chancellor Dilip Deobagkar.

The three meetings conducted by Rahul Gandhi Tuesday created controversy, with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanding the registrar's resignation for allowing them to take place.

Meanwhile, the Jamia authorities said the future date of Gandhi's visit is yet to be finalised.