Congress vice president, Rahul Gandhi, who was supposed to return to Delhi today, after seven weeks of 'introspection', will now be back by Wednesday, according to AICC sources.

Capt Amrinder Singh, the former Punjab CM, had said that the leadership should remain with Sonia Gandhi as a generational change cannot be done with a knife.

Notwithstanding, the AICC was planning to give him a rousing reception at Delhi airport and apparently Rahul got wind of it and extended his leave as he wanted to return home quietly.

The Air Traffic control has been getting frequent enquiry calls from the media on when Rahul's flight is expected to land and his arrival would have been beamed by every channel worth its salt. 

Rahul has been away for seven weeks and has missed the budget session of Parliament as well as other events like the anti-Land Bill stir which saw all oppostion parties led by Sonia Gandhi taking a protest march to Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The Congress has struggled to defend his long absence beyond saying that he needed time to "introspect."

Congress leaders have asserted that Gandhi will definitely return before Sunday, April 19, when he is expected to address a massive farmers' rally against the Land Bill.

Rahul has positioned himself as a champion of farmers and was credited with driving the Congress government's law in 2013 that said land cannot be acquired without the consent of a majority of the farmers.