Rahul Gandhi's two-month trip to four South Asian countries last year from February to April had created a controversy as he had left right before the Budget Session of the Parliament that year.
In fact, his going on leave had been announced right on the eve of the budget session of Parliament in which Congress had earlier decided to target the government in a big way on land ordinance issue.
That trip had been quite an embarrasssment for the Congress as Rahul Gandhi faced a lot of criticism for going on leave at a time as crucial as the Budget Session of the Parliament.
The Congress vice-president's current trip also comes at a very crucial time for the Congress, when the BJP is facing criticism from many people in the country after RBI Gorvernor Raghuram Rajan's decision to not extend his tenure, Chetan Chauhan's appointment as NIFT chairman and Union Minister RS Katheria saying saffronisation is inevitable, all in the same week.
The party leaders can only hope that when Rahul says he is leaving "for a few days on a short visit", he actually means it.Because even when his earlier two-month trip had been announced, Congress had said that he was leaving only "for a few weeks".
