Rahul's 'timing could have been better', tweets Congress' Digvijaya

Even as the Congress tired to shield Rahul Gandhi’s surprise sabbatical ahead of the crucial Budget session, senior party leader Digvijaya Singh questioned his timing openly.

Singh tweeted on Tuesday morning, “If Rahul wans to reflect what went wrong why criticise him? Every one wants some peace to reflect. Only timing could have been better.” 

The Congress vice president has taken a few weeks off to "reflect upon recent events and the future course of the party," the party said on Monday. It jumped into damage control asserting that Rahul will actively take part in all party processes after he comes back from the leave in near future.

The Congress vice president’s going on leave was announced on the eve of the Budget session of Parliament in which the party had earlier decided to target the government in a big way on land ordinance issue and Rahul himself was slated to lead a party agitation at Jantar Mantar on Wednesday.

He will not be able to attend Wednesday's event and he is likely to remain absent from Parliament in its crucial first week when the general budget and railway budget are to be presented.

His sudden leave has set off speculations about his future role in the party and also that he was unhappy with lobbies of some senior leaders close to the party chief, whom he wanted to go in the upcoming All India Congress Committee reshuffle soon.

Some of the ideas of the Congress vice president on party reforms have not found favour with a dominant section of the old guard and the tension between the two sets of viewpoints have been reflected time and again, party sources said.

Party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi, however, rejected the speculations saying he "condemns and denies such unjustifiable" questions". He said Rahul requested the Congress President Sonia Gandhi that he needs a few weeks time to "reflect both on recent events related to the party and its future course" as he believes that this "introspection" is vital for the party.

Image: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi