New Delhi: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has gone on a sabbatical “for a few weeks” during the crucial Budget Session of Parliament, leading to various theories and a guessing game in political circles.
While the Congress on Monday said he has gone on a leave for “introspection” and will be back before the AICC meeting, to be held in the next couple of months, others in the party fear it is “protest leave” and that this will intensify the fight between loyalists of party president Sonia Gandhi and those loyal to the young party vice-president.
The timing of his sabbatical has surprised the party rank and file as it comes at a time when the Narendra Modi government is on the defensive and unsure of the passage of crucial ordinances without Congress support in the Rajya Sabha. The parliamentary affairs minister met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in this regard.
Mr Rahul Gandhi was supposed to lead the party from the front in the Lok Sabha and outside on the land Bill, but he has instead decided to stay away, inviting comparisons to leaving the pitch in the middle of the game.
Responding to questions, Mrs Gandhi told reporters he has been “given a few weeks. He needs some time.” “Well, the reason is what you have been told,” she said in reply to another question.
