Miliband visit to Amethi will be seen as an 'endorsement' of Rahul Gandhi

London/New Delhi, Jan.14 (ANI): British Foreign Secretary David Miliband's visit with Congress party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi to Amethi this evening is likely to not only raise eyebrows in political circles both here and in Britain, but will also be seen as an endorsement of Gandhi as India's future leader.

According to The Times, both who are tipped to be future prime ministers of their respective countries, will spend their time in Amethi eating with their hands and sleeping on charpoys (wooden bed frames strung with rope).

Gandhi, 38, will show Miliband education and agriculture projects in Amethi, according to officials.

"He [Mr Miliband] will sleep on a charpoy and eat vegetarian food with his hands in true village style," one British official told The Times.

"He'll be doing whatever Rahul Gandhi is doing," he added.

British officials say that Miliband wants to see Indian village life and meet a new generation of Indian politicians, but analysts say he risks being seen as endorsing Gandhi and his party before a national election due to be held by May.

Gandhi presently holds no government post, but his mother, Sonia Gandhi, is the Italian-born leader of the ruling Congress Party, and his father, Rajiv, and grandmother, Indira, were both prime ministers who were assassinated.

Gandhi, who entered Parliament in 2004, was appointed a general secretary of the Congress Party in 2007 and is now being groomed to succeed his mother as leader. (ANI)