Rahul Gandhi on 2-week leave: Congress

NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi has gone on two weeks' leave, Congress said today frowning upon attempts to give various meanings to the action and virtually snubbed party General Secretary Digvijay Singh who had found fault with the "timing".

"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.

Replying to a volley of questions, he, however, said Gandhi has gone on "two weeks leave".

He steered clear of questions whether Gandhi is in India or abroad and whether he was angry and sulking.

"You should not pay attention to such kind of things", he remarked when a reporter queried further on the issue.

Asked about Digvijay Singh's tweet questioning the timing of Gandhi's leave, Surjewala snapped "I have not seen his statement. That could be his opinion".

Singh had found fault with the "timing" of Rahul Gandhi's sudden sabbatical but defended his decision to take a break for reflecting in the wake of the party's wipe-out in the Delhi Assembly elections on top of a string of electoral losses.

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

"Rahul Gandhi has articulated the Congress viewpoint", Surjewala insisted when a reporter wanted to know whether Gandhi should have "led from the front" on the controversial land ordinance.

Meanwhile, Lok Sabha sources said Rahul Gandhi has given no letter to the Secretariat about his absence from the House.

"We have received no letter", the sources said adding that such a letter is needed when a member wants to take more than three weeks leave.