Amid Speculation, Congress Tweets Pics of Rahul Gandhi in Aspen

Aspen: Rahul Gandhi was seen listening with rapt interest at a conference in Aspen in an image tweeted today by his office, apparently to silence the BJP, which had said he was holidaying in the US.The tweet indicated that Mr Gandhi was present at the "New Media and International Affairs conference" at the resort town in Colorado.

Responding to barbs about their leader's "second sabbatical," the Congress last week said that Rahul Gandhi was privately attending the event "Weekend with Charlie Rose" at Aspen, where leaders from different fields, including politicians, converge and deliberate on various issues.

The BJP countered that the 44-year-old had been sent by his party on "forced vacation" to keep him out of Bihar as allies like Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar did not want him in the picture in the campaign for state elections in October-November.

BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao also suggested that the event that Mr Gandhi was supposed to be attending was held way back in June-July. "Is Rahul Gandhi travelling back in time?" he scoffed, pointing out that he was not even listed as a speaker.

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The Congress then hit back, saying "people who read good magazines" were aware of the conference.

Congress leader Milind Deora, who is also in Aspen, tweeted pictures of Rahul Gandhi with Iceland's President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson and British politician David Miliband.
   Mr Gandhi's visit to the US coincides with that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who attended a UN meeting, toured Silicon Valley and held a host of meetings with tech giants including Microsoft, Facebook and Google this weekend.

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The BJP had been unsparing in their criticism of Rahul Gandhi's two-month sabbatical in an unknown place earlier this year.