Rahul Gandhi missing posters surface in UP

It could be antics of a political rival. What happened to TRS Chief and Telangana Chief Minister KCR in the past is now happening to Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi.

Posters have surfaced in various parts of Uttar Pradesh announcing Rahul Gandhi is missing, taking digs at the Congress Vice President's month-long vacation and alleged sabbatical. Even a reward has been announced for the information on Rahul Gandhi.

Posters in Rahul Gandhi's own constituency are titled "Amethi without a Leader", and a Hindi film song has been used to convey their message - "Jaane woh Kaunsa desh, Jahan tum chale Gaye (who knows where you have gone)." The posters list problems in Amethi including bad roads and poor health services; offering a reward for any information on the Congress MP. They are signed off by anonymous "people of Amethi".

In Jhansi, BJP leader and Union Minister Uma Bharti has also been targeted along with Rahul Gandhi in posters put up by a local party. Both are accused of making false promises to develop the backward Bundelkhand region and never have returned. Posters screaming "Laapata (missing)" were recently put up in Bulandshahr and Allahabad by BJP workers.

Last month, some posters in Allahabad were sponsored by Congress workers who demanded that Rahul Gandhi's sister Priyanka Vadra be made Party President since he is on a sabbatical. Cheeky posters have in the past been directed at politicians like Mulayam Singh Yadav and Hema Malini, who were also accused of neglecting their constituencies.

The Congress has spent the entire month defending Rahul Gandhi against barbs about his absence. The 44-year-old had asked for "leave of absence" to introspect, and has missed the first half of the budget session when his party campaigned against the government's land bill.