Rahul Gandhi sets off on yet another foreign trip; to miss crucial party meet

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is learnt to have left for a foreign trip again — a personal visit to Europe — and is expected to return on Sunday, ahead of the Presidential elections and the monsoon session of Parliament, reports NDTV.

His frequent visits abroad have led to questions about how committed Rahul Gandhi is about taking up a leadership role, especially when the Congress has suffered a series of losses over the past few years. This visit comes even as the party has barely managed to stop defections in Goa.

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Missing crucial party meet

The Congress is scheduled to have a meeting on Thursday to discuss election to the party president’s post and Rahul Gandhi is set to miss that meeting. The Congress president’s post is currently held by Sonia Gandhi after Rahul Gandhi resigned following the 2019 Lok Sabha poll loss. Whether or not Rahul Gandhi will contest for the post is not yet clear, the NDTV report said.

Thursday’s party meeting will also work on plans for a ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ or Unite India Campaign set to start on October 2.

Many foreign trips

His recent visits that courted controversy include one in early May, when he was seen at a nightclub in Nepal’s Kathmandu. Pictures were released by BJP supporters, but the Congress said there was nothing wrong about the personal visit for a journalist’s wedding. This came just after the party’s poor performance in assembly elections in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, among other states.

Rahul Gandhi made a visit to Europe too in that time. Earlier, he had left for Italy in December, returning in mid-January, on a personal visit.

In the latter half of May, too, he went abroad. For this visit to Cambridge in the UK, BJP leaders raised questions over his refusal to take political clearance. The Congress said no such permission was needed. This visit, too, came at a crucial political time, during Rajya Sabha elections in which the party was struggling to stop cross-voting by its MLAs.

Also read: Congress acts tough, seeks disqualification of defecting Goa MLAs