File photo of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi's absence at the start of an important budget session left many in his Congress party baffled and clamming up to the media, but senior party leader Digvijaya Singh has openly questioned his timing.



"If Rahul wans to reflect what went wrong why criticise him ? Every one wants some peace to reflect. Only timing could have been better," Mr Singh tweeted this morning.



The Congress vice president has taken a few weeks off to "reflect upon recent events and the future course of the party," the party said on Monday.



Mr Gandhi, 44, wants time to think, Congress leaders said, asserting that he is "not quitting politics." He may be back in the second week of March.



The Congress leader's break comes at a time the opposition is prepping for a major campaign to challenge the government's overhaul of land acquisition rules.



One theory in the Congress suggests that Mr Gandhi's sabbatical follows a clash of views with older leaders after a series of election defeats, including the latest setback in Delhi, where the party did not win even a single seat earlier this month.





Mr Gandhi, say sources, is unhappy with lobbies around his mother, party president Sonia Gandhi, and is frustrated that he is not being allowed to revamp the organisation.Sonia Gandhi refused to elaborate on her son's plans. "Whatever we wanted to say has been said. I am not going to add anything to this," she told NDTV.

Rahul Gandhi has led the Congress to a series of poll defeats since it suffered its worst ever rout in a national election last year. He promised a dramatic revival after that defeat but very little has changed.Reports suggest he could be elevated to party president in an upcoming conclave of the All India Congress Committee in April.

Mr Gandhi has been blamed by many for the party's downslide and is often seen by his critics as a reluctant and detached politician.