NEW DELHI: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is on a global roll. After visiting the US last week, he will next head to Russia and China as part of his global ‘brand building’. Party strategists said they are looking at an eight to 10-day window for the China and Russia visit ahead of the Gujarat Assembly polls, likely to be held by year-end. “The visit will boost Rahul’s image as a global leader,” a Congress functionary involved in the process told The Sunday Standard.
Rahul will also travel to other countries in the months to come, sources said. The 47-year-old is expected to take over the reins of the 130-year-old Congress from his mother and party chief Sonia Gandhi soon. The foreign visits are expected to present Rahul before the domestic audience as a leader who has global exposure and someone whose views are appreciated across nations, said senior party leaders. Sources said the format of the China and Russia visit is expected to be similar to his interactive sessions during the US trip.
Counting the positives from his two-week-long US visit, party strategists said the conclaves with academia, bureaucrats, students and NRIs provided Rahul an opportunity to express his views on a range of issues from politics to governance, health, education and building industry. While preparations for the US visit had started two months ago, the views expressed by Rahul were firmed up during his interactions with party leaders and subject experts over a longer period.
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■ Rahul’s China and Russia visit will be for 8-10 days
■ It comes ahead of the Gujarat polls later this year
■ Format of the visit will be similar to his recent US trip
■ Russia has had long-standing ties with India and the Nehru-Gandhi family
China is rising as a world power and it is important that the Congress vice-president gets a platform there, according to party sources. In January, Rahul Gandhi was expected to lead a Congress delegation to China on an invitation by the Communist Party of China, but he did not go as the visit had invited criticism. Rahul had just returned from an 11-day foreign trip, and his China visit, when the party was preparing for Assembly polls in five states, would have sent wrong signals.
In July, Rahul had stirred another controversy by meeting the Chinese envoy amid a border standoff between the two countries. In 2015, a Communist Party of China delegation had attended the 125th birth anniversary celebrations of former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru hosted by the Congress on November 14 at Vigyan Bhawan in the national capital.
Russia, said party sources, has had long-standing associations with India and the Nehru-Gandhi family, and it makes good sense for Rahul to visit the country as he prepares to become the Congress president.
Before the US trip, Rahul had visited Norway on an invitation from its government and went to several industrial plants and technology centres. Before that, he had travelled to Italy to visit his grandmother. In 2016, he visited Turkey on June 19 and went to the UK in December.