Rahul extends leave, might return next week

Rahul Gandhi will be back in the proximate future and is deeply involved in decision making in the party, Congress said on Tuesday as there was speculation over the Congress vice president extending his leave further.

Party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi made it clear that irrespective of wherever he is, Rahul is deeply involved in the decision making in the party including in some recent changes.

“Everything is going on under his lens, under his supervision... Rahul is discharging his responsibilities,” he said rejecting contentions expressed in a news report that Rahul is not willing to come back to take up party assignments till senior leaders like Ahmed Patel and Janardan Dwivedi are shunted out.

He said that he cannot comment on the “freedom of expression” of the media.

Singhvi said that while some people may have “wishful thinking” about Rahul not coming back till this month end or year end, the Congress vice president will be “back soon in very near future, may be next week”.

When told that his colleague and another party spokesperson Randip Surjewala had earlier said that Rahul has gone on only a two-weeks’ leave and by that yardstick he should have come back by now, Singhvi said, “Nobody has given any exact date.”

Rahul had gone on leave before the beginning of the Budget Session leading to a lot of tongue wagging in the political circles amid indications that he was unhappy over not being given a free hand to run the party.

The party had earlier said that Rahul “requested Congress president Sonia Gandhi for some time to reflect on recent events and future course of the party”.

Party leaders had said that Rahul believes that the direction that the party adopts at the upcoming Congress session will be of crucial importance for its future and hence he wished to prepare for it.

His leave had come amid speculation that he may be elevated as Congress president at the AICC meet likely in April.