CHANDIGARH: Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi met the family members of Navy officer Lt Vinay Narwal, who was killed in the terror attack in Pahalgam.
Sources said that Rahul Gandhi reached Narwal's residence in Karnal, Haryana, in the afternoon to express condolences.
He was accompanied by Haryana Congress president Udai Bhan, MP from Rohtak, Deepender Singh Hooda, MLA Indu Raj Narwal, Youth Congress president Divyanshu Budhiraja, Bhupinder Lather, besides other leaders.
He spent around one and a half hours with Narwal's family.
Deepender Singh Hooda said Rahul Gandhi first paid floral tributes to Narwal’s portrait and spent most of the time with his family in private.
Last week, Rahul had visited another family of a victim in the terror attack in Kanpur.
Meanwhile, a prayer meeting was held in memory of the navy officer in Karnal on May 4. It was attended by Suman Saini, wife of Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini. "Today is a deeply sorrowful day, the family lost their beloved son, and I pray to God to give them strength. The terror attack of April 22 is beyond condemnation. The entire nation mourns this loss,” she had said.
Earlier, CM Saini had announced financial aid of Rs 50 lakh and a government job for a member of Narwal’s family.
Last month, Vinay Narwal’s last rites were performed in Karnal with his father, Rajesh Narwal, and maternal uncle leading the ceremony in front of hundreds of mourners.
His father had said the family had faith in the government and hoped for justice. "The loss was unbearable and irreplaceable,” he said.
Twenty-six tourists were killed and several were injured when terrorists opened fire at a meadow near the popular tourist town of Pahalgam in south Kashmir on April 22.