An image of Rahul Gandhi tweeted by a Congress worker this morning
Photos on twitter of Rahul Gandhi, purportedly at a hill resort in India, threatened to overshadow the Congress' massive rally in Delhi on Wednesday to protest against the government's land reforms proposal.
Congress worker Jagdish Sharma tweeted three photos with the comment in Hindi, "Rahul Gandhi always goes to the hills of Uttarakhand, not Bangkok."
Mr Gandhi's office soon clarified that the pictures were taken in 2008.
Congress leaders, however, faced a fresh storm of questions on their vice president's whereabouts.
"I don't know where Rahul has gone. He wanted to go even before the Delhi election. There will always be something," senior leader Ambika Soni told NDTV.
Asked whether his absence was unseemly at a time the party is trying to take on the Narendra Modi government over land acquisition and farmers's rights - issues championed by Rahul Gandhi - Ms Soni said, "He was the force behind the rally. He planned it before leaving. He led the agitations on land. A leader cannot be at 20 places at the same time..."
On Tuesday, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh disputed criticism on Rahul Gandhi "holidaying abroad" and said, "He has not left the country. There is no proof that he has left the country."
When the Congress announced his "leave of absence" on Monday, some reports had said that he had taken a flight to Bangkok last week and then travelled to Greece. The BJP seized on it to deride the Congress leader on his "lack of interest" in a crucial session. The hashtags #WhereIsRahul and #RahulOnLeave flooded social media.
Perhaps to stem the tide of criticism and twitter trends, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala yesterday said Mr Gandhi would be back by March 10, but did not elaborate on where he is.
Mr Gandhi has led the Congress to a series of electoral defeats since it was handed its worst drubbing in a national election last year. He wants time to think, party officials said on Monday, and to assess his own role as well as how best to reconfigure the 130-year-old party.