When Rahul is elevated, you will know: Sonia

Amid controversy over Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's leave during the budget session and demands that he be elevated, party president Sonia Gandhi said Thursday that everyone will get to know when such a decision is taken.

"You will know, when it happens," she said.

The Congress vice chief is on a few week's leave during the budget session to reflect on and chart a course for the future of the party, which has suffered a series of electoral reverses including a debacle in the Delhi assembly polls in which it could not win a single seat in the 70-member house despite ruling the city on the trot for 15 years till 2013.

The Congress also has finished third or fourth in the four assembly polls held since its debacle in the Lok Sabha polls last year.

His absence has drawn critical remarks from the party's rivals.

Rahul Gandhi has held extensive consultations with party leaders and workers over the past few months to evolve a road map for the party's revival.

Sources said there is a view in the party that he should get a free hand to implement his ideas and he should take responsibility as party president. The elevation, they said, could take place during a meeting of All India Congress Committee, expected in April or a Congress working committee meeting could be convened for the purpose.

Nine-time party MP Kamal Nath said in an interview Wednesday that Rahul Gandhi should be made party chief and should be should be in a commanding position to implement the road map which will take the party forward.

Party general secretary Digvijaya Singh, who has earlier suggested that Rahul Gandhi should take full responsibility, Wednesday said in an interview that the party vice-president "feels very strongly" that he is not being allowed to function independently by "vested interests".

Party spokesperson Rajiv Gowda Thursday however described these remarks as "personal opinions" and said the party rank and file was "extremely happy about the cohesive manner in which Congress president and vice-president were running the party."

However, he did not not rule out the possibility of Rahul Gandhi taking over as party chief in the coming months.