Sabbatical mystery: Is Rahul Gandhi doing 'vipassana' in Thailand?

New Delhi, Mar 2: It looks like Rahul Gandhi's sabbatical has become a big riddle. Days after it was revealed that Congress vice-president was holidaying in Uttarakhand, another theory is coming fore. According to latest reports by a Hindi daily, Congress scion is in Thailand.

He has gone there to do some course in vipassana, which is a type of meditation. Sources says that Congress 'Yuvraj' is meditating in a forest monastery near Ubon of Thailand.

Reportedly, this is not the first time when Congress vice-president has involved himself in such devotional act. Earlier in 2012, Rahul had visited Rangoon for the same.

When asked about this latest report, Congress president Sonia Gandhi gave same banal answer. She said when Rahul will return to India, he will clarify things.

Congress has been on the back-foot since the news of Rahul sabbatical hit headlines last week. Questions were raised about bad timing of Rahul Gandhi who took leave at the time when important Parliament Session was about to start where Opposition had decided to push Modi government to the wall on Land acquisition issue.

In a big embarrassment to the grand old party, some local Congress leaders in Allahabad even announced cash reward for those who will bring news about Rahul's whereabouts.

Earlier, veteran journalist Vir Sanghvi criticized Congress scion in his book titled, "Mandate: Will of the People"

In the midst of an intense debate over Rahul Gandhi's future role in Congress, the book says the young leader took "too long to emerge" and describes his 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign as "the worst" in living memory.

The author says Rahul took "too long to emerge and when he did, it was not clear if he was for the Manmohan Singh government or against it".

OneIndia News