File photo of Congress President Sonia Gandhi
Two days before the current session of Parliament ends, Sonia Gandhi will host a dinner on May 6 for senior leaders and national law-makers from her party.
Ms Gandhi is President of the Congress; her son, Rahul, is Number 2 in the party and is expected to replace her in the top office later this year.
Mr Gandhi skipped nearly eight weeks of the Parliament session, leaving his party to offer clumsy explanations of what it described as "a leave of absence". During his sabbatical, his mother took the lead in uniting opposition parties to attack the government over proposed land reforms.
Mr Gandhi, 44, returned to the political landscape with a speech at a Delhi rally in support of farmers. After that, he spoke thrice in Parliament to accuse the government of selling out the rights of farmers to favour corporates. "This is a suit-boot ki sarkar (government for the posh)," he said, referencing a controversial suit that was worn by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during President Obama's trip to India.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley struck back yesterday, describing the administration as a "sooj-booj ki sarkar" (government of solutions).
Mr Gandhi has spent recent days touring states like Punjab and Maharashtra where he visited the homes of farmers who have committed suicide.
Amid rising anger over rural distress and farmer suicides, the government is struggling to clear new rules to acquire land for industry and infrastructure projects. The Congress, demolished in last year's national election, has found in the controversy a chance to re-energise its agenda and has attacked the government as "anti-farmer."
An existing land law, cleared by the previous Congress government, is faulty, the government claims, insisting that it has not compromised the rights of farmers.
The government used executive decrees in December and April to loosen acquisition rules requiring 80 per cent consent from landowners, but needs Parliament's approval to make the changes permanent.