New Delhi:
Amid speculation that Rahul Gandhi may be appointed working president of Congress very soon, party leader Digvijaya Singh has suggested that the young leader should now play a bigger role.
"Rahul has to come in the mainstream. Right now he is looking only after Youth Congress and the student wing of the party. I feel now he has to look after us all," Mr Singh told reporters when asked about the speculation in the media.
Mr Singh is the Congress' general secretary in-charge of poll-bound Uttar Pradesh where Rahul Gandhi is trying hard to revive the party. He is considered close to Mr Gandhi.
There is speculation in media that Rahul could become the party's working president and that an announcement in this regard is likely on November 19, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's birthday.
A senior party leader speaking on condition of anonymity said that there is "no confusion that Rahul Gandhi is the next leader of the Congress and has to become Prime Minister" but it is for him to decide when to join mainstream.
Asked about the issue, party spokesperson Rashid Alvi had told reporters a few days back "the internal matters of the party are not discussed with media. If any decision is taken, you will come to know."
Top party leaders, speaking on condition of anonymity, however, have expressed ignorance about any such move.
The talk about Rahul being appointed as working president of the party has been doing rounds every time a fresh controversy has hit the UPA government in the last few months. The speculation only gained momentum after the surgery of Congress president Sonia Gandhi in August.
Rahul was also part of the four-member committee appointed by Sonia to look after Congress affairs during her treatment in the US.