This Article is From Feb 24, 2015

Search Parties Scout for Rahul Gandhi

Search Parties Scout for Rahul Gandhi

File photo of Rahul Gandhi

#WhereIsRahul is trending again on Twitter.

This time because the Congress vice president has applied for leave from his party and left the country just as the crucial Budget session of Parliament began with an intense political battle over one of the causes he has been passionate about - land acquisition and farmers' rights.

The hashtag is a Twitter classic. It trended after the Congress' humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha elections in May last year. Mr Gandhi, who led the Congress' campaign, had skipped a farewell dinner for outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

And then again in October when the Congress lost power in both Maharashtra and Haryana, months after the debacle in the national elections, the Congress Vice President was to be spotted nowhere and #WhereIsRahul made a comeback.

Congress leaders said on Monday that Rahul Gandhi has taken a few weeks' "leave of absence" from the party to "reflect upon recent events and the future course of the party".

Twiteratti are having a field day.

 

At the time of writing this, there are nearly 15,000 tweets around the hashtag #WhereIsRahul. There were others, hashtags such as #RahulOnLeave and #IstandWithRahul are also trending.

Many on Twitter are made suggestions on where Rahul Gandhi is:

 

 

 

Congress supporters defended Mr Gandhi stoutly:

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