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On the offensive: In Parliament, Sonia Gandhi attack Narendra Modi during her first adjournment motion

A Congress leader, who attended the dinner, said Rahul went hopping from one table to another, enquiring from MPs their perception on current issues and ways to confront the government.

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Congress MPs and office-bearers, who on Wednesday had a first-hand interaction with their vice-president Rahul Gandhi after his return from his 56-day sabbatical felt he has turned aggressive and more focused towards politics. Congress president Sonia Gandhi had thrown dinner at her official 10 Janpath residence to give MPs an informal setting for interaction with her son after his return. More than the opposition, Congress leaders were squirming at the absence of Rahul at the critical juncture, when Parliament's Budget session had just begun.

A Congress leader, who attended the dinner, said Rahul went hopping from one table to another, enquiring from MPs their perception on current issues and ways to confront the government. "We discussed issues in an informal setting. We told him frankly what we think about the party and also about his absence from the scene," he said.

But many leaders were aghast at the timing of dinner, which also coincided with Sonia Gandhi's first adjournment motion in Lok Sabha as well as her speech at the Congress parliamentary party meeting, where she sharpened her attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "They should have known that much of media space will be taken by Salman Khan's conviction, the passing of GST in Lok Sabha. The party managers should have planned these events for two to three days later for better coverage and impact," said another leader.

There was, however, no concrete word from Rahul on the reshuffle in the party, keeping office-bearers anxiously waiting for their future. Many of them said the interaction helped them to understand Rahul and to discuss an aggressive strategy by reaching out to various sections of society. Party sources said the informal get-together was also aimed at scotching the media speculation that Congress is divided into two camps owing to partymen's allegiance to mother and son.

Earlier in the morning, at the Parliamentary party meeting, Sonia Gandhi told party MPs to vociferously oppose Modi government's attempts to suppress the voice of the people by replicating Gujarat's controversial anti-terror law at the Centre. The government has already made the Indians feel unsafe in their own land and poisoned the political discourse of this great country, she said while addressing the party MPs. "We are faced with a government which assaults everything precious that India and the Congress party stands for. We have to fight back."

A combative Congress president later in the Lok Sabha tore apart the Modi government, while moving first adjournment motion of her parliamentary career. In her five-minute speech allowed by the Speaker while rejecting her adjournment notice as not warranting suspension of other business, Sonia detailed delays in filling up of top posts of various bodies that keep vigil on the government to bring them to a standstill.

She deplored that the Central Information Commission set up by the UPA government under the RTI (Right to Information) Act had been paralysed also the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) as well as the Lok Pal. She said top post of the chief information commissioner that was never left vacant has not been filled up for the last eight months while three information commissioners' posts are vacant for the last one year. Sonia said by the government's own admission as many as 39,000 complaints have piled up before the Central Information Commission. "Information delayed is information denied. This is just not acceptable."

She went on to ask why the post of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner has remained vacant since September, as well as the Lok Pal, while the law to protect the whistleblowers was not notified despite the President's assent last year and why both the posts of the Election Commissioners were kept vacant.

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