<p>Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday returned from an eight-week “leave of absence” from politics, an act his party found difficult to defend with questions being raised on his abilities to turn around the fortunes of the 130-year-old organisation.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The 44-year-old “reluctant prince” alighted from a Thai Airways plane that brought him here from Bangkok. Rahul is believed to have spent most of his time at a meditation centre in Myanmar, a place he is known to have visited earlier as well.<br /><br />Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her daughter Priyanka Vadra drove down to Rahul’s official 12 Tughlak Lane residence nearly an hour before he reached there around noon. <br />Elated Congress workers burst crackers minutes after Rahul arrived in an SUV. In the virtual world, Rahul was the target of biting satire.<br /><br />“Rejuvenated” after his sabbatical, Rahul is expected to plunge head-on into party affairs with Sunday’s farmers’ rally being top on agenda. <br /><br />It is learnt that Rahul was in touch with senior leaders seeking inputs for his speech at a mega rally, which would also be addressed by Sonia Gandhi and chief ministers from some of the Congress-ruled states.<br /><br />Rahul is expected to meet senior party leaders and representatives of farmers’ organisations on Friday. <br /><br />He is also planning to visit Amethi, his parliamentary constituency, where posters declaring rewards for those who help trace “missing” Rahul had surfaced last month.<br />He is tipped to take over as Congress president from his mother Sonia later this year. But his “untimely” sabbatical has led to questions being raised on his capabilities and repeated advice to take a “more proactive role” in party affairs.<br /><br />A section of senior leaders such as Shiela Dikshit and Amarinder Singh had made a strong pitch for continuance of Sonia Gandhi as Congress president, which is seen as a no-confidence vote for Rahul.<br /><br />Ever since the Congress announced Rahul’s temporary break from political life, there has been speculations that he was unhappy at being denied a free hand to run the organisation, a contention which the party denied.<br /><br />The media interest in Rahul’s return could be gauged from the fact that many television channels had posted teams at the Delhi airport since Wednesday night, anticipating his return. <br /><br />On Thursday, some channels even flashed plane tickets purportedly bought by Rahul for travelling to Bangkok on February 16 by Thai Airways and a return ticket from Bangkok for Thursday.</p>
<p>Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday returned from an eight-week “leave of absence” from politics, an act his party found difficult to defend with questions being raised on his abilities to turn around the fortunes of the 130-year-old organisation.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The 44-year-old “reluctant prince” alighted from a Thai Airways plane that brought him here from Bangkok. Rahul is believed to have spent most of his time at a meditation centre in Myanmar, a place he is known to have visited earlier as well.<br /><br />Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her daughter Priyanka Vadra drove down to Rahul’s official 12 Tughlak Lane residence nearly an hour before he reached there around noon. <br />Elated Congress workers burst crackers minutes after Rahul arrived in an SUV. In the virtual world, Rahul was the target of biting satire.<br /><br />“Rejuvenated” after his sabbatical, Rahul is expected to plunge head-on into party affairs with Sunday’s farmers’ rally being top on agenda. <br /><br />It is learnt that Rahul was in touch with senior leaders seeking inputs for his speech at a mega rally, which would also be addressed by Sonia Gandhi and chief ministers from some of the Congress-ruled states.<br /><br />Rahul is expected to meet senior party leaders and representatives of farmers’ organisations on Friday. <br /><br />He is also planning to visit Amethi, his parliamentary constituency, where posters declaring rewards for those who help trace “missing” Rahul had surfaced last month.<br />He is tipped to take over as Congress president from his mother Sonia later this year. But his “untimely” sabbatical has led to questions being raised on his capabilities and repeated advice to take a “more proactive role” in party affairs.<br /><br />A section of senior leaders such as Shiela Dikshit and Amarinder Singh had made a strong pitch for continuance of Sonia Gandhi as Congress president, which is seen as a no-confidence vote for Rahul.<br /><br />Ever since the Congress announced Rahul’s temporary break from political life, there has been speculations that he was unhappy at being denied a free hand to run the organisation, a contention which the party denied.<br /><br />The media interest in Rahul’s return could be gauged from the fact that many television channels had posted teams at the Delhi airport since Wednesday night, anticipating his return. <br /><br />On Thursday, some channels even flashed plane tickets purportedly bought by Rahul for travelling to Bangkok on February 16 by Thai Airways and a return ticket from Bangkok for Thursday.</p>
