Ahead of the party's Foundation Day in December, Gandhi went abroad on a personal visit and it was party General Secretary and spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala who announced that he was not in the country.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi and former party chief Rahul Gandhi on Monday gave the party's 136th Foundation Day event a miss with senior party leader A K Antony unfurling the flag at the AICC headquarters here.

According to PTI sources, Rahul Gandhi left for Milan in Italy on a Qatar Airways flight on Sunday morning.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, currently on a foreign visit, on Monday greeted the party workers on the occasion of the Congress' 136th foundation day.  

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday left for abroad on a "short personal visit", party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hit out at the Congress party saying some people in Delhi are trying to teach him democracy. His statement comes after Rahul Gandhi's remark that democracy in India was now imaginary.

Senior Uttar Pradesh Congress leader and convener of the Brahmin Mahasabha, Pandit Vinod Mishra resigned from the party on Friday. Mishra is a former general secretary of the UP Congress, who also held the charge of Lucknow district during the Raj Babbar tenure.

The Congress' team headed by Rahul Gandhi handed over a memorandum signed by 'two crore farmers' against the farm laws.

The BJP on Thursday challenged Rahul Gandhi for an open debate on what the Congress did for farmers' welfare when in power and what the Modi government has done for them, as it rejected his allegations against the Centre as "baseless and illogical".

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday demanded from the Modi government to convene a special session of the Parliament and withdraw the three farm laws.

In a Twitter post, the former Congress president also shared a 'Covid vaccinations' chart showing China ahead followed by the United States, United Kingdom and Russia.

In Bihar, where Congress emerged as the weak link in the grand alliance, the Congress could also give the responsibility to a new face.

Leaders like Randeep Singh Surjewala, KC Venugopal and Rajeev Sattav who are considered to be close confidantes of former Congress president were not a part of the meeting. 

After several months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Sonia called a meeting of top leaders of the party in which seven leaders of the disgruntled faction also attended. A total of 19 leaders including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi were present.

As Congress continues to discuss future leadership, sources said all leaders want Rahul Gandhi to take the responsibility of party president at which point he said it should be left to the electoral process of the party.

Facebook is mired in controversy for a long time in the country. Back in August, Rahul had cited another report to say that Facebook’s policies were allegedly biased and favoured the ruling BJP due to its business interests. India is Facebook's biggest market in terms of active users.

As per sources, senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Bhupender Hooda, Prithviraj Chavan and Shashi Tharoor will be attending the meeting.

In what can be seen as an act of placation, Congress President Sonia Gandhi will meet 23 dissenters on December 19, informed sources told India TV. The key meet comes ahead of the party's internal election which is expected to take place soon.

According to reports, the 65-year-old also left a suicide note stating that "he couldn't see the ordeal of farmers who are sitting on the outskirts of the national capital protesting against the recently-passed farm laws".

Rahul Gandhi was disallowed to speak at the meeting by the panel chairman Jual Oram (BJP) when he sought to raise the issues of Chinese aggression.