Rice meets Sonia

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice [ Images ] arrived in New Delhi [ Images ] on Tuesday evening on her maiden visit to India for talks on further expansion of Indo-US cooperation in security, economy, technology and other areas.

Dr Rice will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [ Images ], External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh and Leader of the Opposition L K Advani [ Images ] before she flies off to Islamabad [ Images ] at 1515 this afternoon.

The speculation about Dr Rice meeting United Progressive Alliance [ Images ] Chairperson Sonia Gandhi [ Images ] were cleared when she called on the Congress party president on Wednesday morning.

Photograph: Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty Images