Lok Sabha Speaker said he had wanted to give Rahul Gandhi the chance to raise his question

Rahul Gandhi's absence in parliament, where the winter session started on Monday, was noted by the Speaker in the Lok Sabha today. The former Congress president was MIA even though his question was listed.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla noticed Rahul Gandhi's absence and said he had wanted to give him the chance to raise his question.

"His (Rahul Gandhi's) question was listed for the Question Hour and I wanted to give him a chance had he been present," the Speaker remarked when another Congress MP, K Suresh got up to speak during Zero Hour from Mr Gandhi's seat.

The speaker asked Mr Suresh to move to his designated seat and continue.

The question that Mr Gandhi was to raise is linked to the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana for Kerala, a rural road project.

Mr Gandhi is abroad, says his party.

His foreign trips have been aggressively targeted by the ruling BJP, which has demanded that details including the frequency of his visits be made public by the Congress.

Mr Gandhi quit as Congress president and refused to change his mind after the party's drubbing in the national election earlier this year, its second straight defeat since 2014. The Congress, after months of flux, requested former president Sonia Gandhi to take over as interim chief.