Amid efforts to get relief for her embattled brother and Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, Congress MP Priya Dutt met party chief Sonia Gandhi. Priya did not speak to reporters after the meeting, which took place in the backdrop of growing pleas in the Congress that the party should stand by the family of Sunil Dutt which epitomises the values of secularism and national integration. Earlier, Home Minister Shivraj Patil and his Deputy Sriprakash Jaiswal met Gandhi. Prior to the meeting, Dutt said her family was exploring the possibilities of getting relief for Sanjay, who was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for six years by a special court in Mumbai after being convicted for illegally possessing an AK-56 rifle and a 9mm pistol. "We are seeing what could be the best legal recourse for him. Our main focus is to see what we can do to get relief for him," Priya said. Union Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal said the Congress party should stand by the Dutt family at this time of ‘stress and trouble’. "Sunil Dutt, Sanjay's father, was a staunch Congressman and he symbolised and epitomised what Congress stands for. The party should stand by the Dutt family," he said on the sidelines of a function. Sibal said he would not comment on the merit of the case and there was no difference in the party regarding the support to be given to the Dutt family.
