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Sonia Gandhi, leader of the Opposition in Parliament, arrived in New York on Sunday night from Iceland on a five-day visit to the United States of America during which she is expected to meet senior administration officials in Washington, DC.
Gandhi is heading a five-member delegation whose members are former Union finance minister Manmohan Singh, former minister of state for external affairs K Natwar Singh, Congress MP Murli Deora and industrialist R P Goenka.
Sources close to Gandhi told rediff.com that she has a number of meetings, both official and unofficial, in New York and in Washington.
They said she would focus on eliciting support from non-resident Indians for the revitalization process in the party.
"Sonia Gandhi wants the Congress party to reach out to people (of Indian origin) in different countries," the sources said.
The visit comes less than a month after Manmohan Singh was hosted by the Indian National Overseas Congress in New York. She had earlier spent a day in Iceland as a guest of that country's president.
On Monday, Gandhi will address a closed-door meeting organized jointly by the Asia Society and the Council of Foreign Relations followed by a meeting with former secretary of state Henry Kissinger.
In the evening, she will be attending a public reception hosted by the Indian National Overseas Congress at the Sheraton Hotel.
During her two-day sojourn in New York, Gandhi will also address the United Nations General Assembly and is expected to meet Secretary General Kofi Annan before traveling to Washington, DC, on the morning of June 27.
In Washington, she will address a meeting of Indian Americans and the congressional caucus on India on June 27.
Natwar Singh told rediff.com that Sonia Gandhi was expected to meet 'very important people'. But she will not have a meeting with President George Bush, he added.
The last time Gandhi visited New York was in 1993 in connection with a meeting of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.
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