Rahul Gandhi's surprise sabbatical has exposed faultlines in the electorally-battered Congress, which is bracing for a generational change.
The party has tried to downplay Gandhi's sudden move saying he is the leader and will come back soon to play a pro-active role in party affairs.
While party sources deny that the break by Gandhi indicates any reluctance on his part to lead the party or renounce politics, the buzz goes that the Congress Vice President was not quite okay with a number of his ideas not being implemented in the parent party after he took over as its Vice President in January 2013 after Chintan Shivir in Jaipur.
"It's not that he is quitting politics or will not take any other responsibility. It will also be wrong to say he is sulking and so he did. That is not his way of doing politics. There are issues and he wants to reflect. After all if he has to lead, he will like do it with his ideas.
"He will utilize the sabbatical time to reflect, regroup and chart out the course" for the the party, which braces for the AICC session in April, where Congress is likely to come up with a revival roadmap," the sources said.
While Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said that such retreats are common for leaders worldwide, the timing of the sabbatical has left many wondering as it happens when the crucial Budget session is on and the party is planning to launch a major agitation on the land ordinance.
Gandhi, whose left of the Centre tilt, is well-known, had played a key role in passage of the land acquisition surmounting the doubts expressed within sections of his own party.
The Congress Vice President's "tear act" in 2013 had caught the rank and file of the party by surprise.
At a press conference at Press Club of India here in September 2013, Gandhi had walked in and denounced the controversial ordinance pushed by the UPA government to negate the Supreme Court verdict on convicted lawmakers as "complete nonsense" and had said what "our government has done is wrong".
