The Congress is abuzz with rumours about the next step of party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who is on “leave from work” for “two weeks”.
While the party maintained that he will be back shortly, his absence is widely seen as an attempt to prepare an alternative vision for the party ahead of the AICC session scheduled for April.
Party elders, against whom Rahul is seen waging a war, fear their positions will become untenable if he takes over as party president at the AICC session.
Often, he is not allowed to implement his ideals within the party following stiff resistance from the elders, say those close to the Amethi MP.
A section of the party believes Rahul will remove many veterans from key posts if he becomes party president. “What he wants is complete democratisation of the decision-making process. He may remove leaders who do not have any connect with the masses,” said a young Congress leader.
It has been suggested to Rahul that the high command should comprise “successful” politicians with mass base.
Officially, the Congress insisted that nothing much should be read into Rahul’s decision.
“We have made known the whole situation quite clearly. Do not try to find various meanings, possibilities in it and resort to speculation and spread the needle of suspicion. We reject such attempts to speculate other possibilities,” party spokesman Randeep Surjewala told reporters here on Tuesday.
Apparently concerned at Rahul’s unexpected sabbatical, party leader Digvijaya Singh tweeted: “If Rahul wants to reflect what went wrong why criticise him? Everyone wants some peace to reflect. Only timing could have been better.”