New Delhi, March 22: When a student in hawai chappals, accused of sedition, set hopes soaring within India's main Opposition party today by walking into the home of its second-in-command, it emphasised the unfamiliar turn Indian politics has taken in recent weeks.

JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar met Rahul Gandhi for over an hour this morning, sending many in the Congress drooling over the prospect of two of the most visible critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi joining hands someday.

Kanhaiya, who belongs to the CPI-backed All India Students Federation (AISF), has been urging senior communist leaders to shed their allergy to the Congress and help build a wide front against the Sangh-BJP.

Congress sources insisted that no political message should be read into the first meeting between the party vice-president and Kanhaiya, who arrived leading a six-strong AISF delegation.

"It was more of a courtesy call," a Rahul aide said. "It's natural the students wanted to meet a leader who has been constantly raising the issue of freedom of speech."

Rahul merely tweeted: "Met a delegation of student leaders from AISF and JNUSU president."

Sources said that Kanhaiya, out on bail after three weeks in prison over alleged "anti-national" sloganeering on campus last month, thanked Rahul for his support.

One of the students who accompanied him said Rahul congratulated them for "fighting the good fight".

"He said our mobilisation was necessary and was a symbol of the unity of all progressive people. He said, 'I offer my support for all your efforts that strengthen democracy'," the student said.

"We had just gone to thank him for coming to JNU but Rahulji spoke to all of us and gave us confidence that many people outside the campus supported us."

Rahul had joined several Left leaders at JNU on February 13, the day after Kanhaiya's arrest, ignoring words of caution from party veterans. It had been a bold step at a time many Opposition leaders were hesitant about expressing unqualified support for him.

Today's meeting came a day after the Congress had distanced itself from party MP Shashi Tharoor's likening of Kanhaiya to Bhagat Singh.

Sources said Kanhaiya told Rahul he would be visiting Hyderabad Central University, where Dalit PhD scholar Rohith Vemula was allegedly driven to suicide, on the anniversary of Bhagat Singh's martyrdom tomorrow.

"I shall first meet Rohith's mother and brother and then go to Hyderabad University," Kanhaiya told this newspaper.

"The Joint Action Committee (seeking justice for Rohith) has faced violence there today; I shall help them in whatever way they want."

Congress sources said that Rahul and the students had discussed the fallacies of the Sangh's vision of nationalism.

Rahul stressed the importance of the Congress ideology in a diverse country like India, while the students dwelt on communist ideology and questioned the crackdown on campuses.

Many in the Congress see Kanhaiya's readiness to shed the Left's traditional ideological rigidity and his identification of the Sangh-BJP as the main enemy as his most appealing trait.

While Rahul has repeatedly made it clear that he doesn't support anti-India sloganeering, Kanhaiya too has demonstrated his faith in the Constitution.

In his recent speeches, the student leader has not attacked the Congress or other secular parties while targeting the Sangh-BJP.

Many Congress politicians see huge potential in him, at least in terms of mobilising the youth against the Sangh worldview.

Kanhaiya, though, has faced criticism from within the movement on two fronts: a Left lobby sceptical of his call for Left-Congress unity and Ambedkarites who fear the JNU brouhaha is overshadowing the cause of Rohith.