Showing signs of a softening of stance on erstwhile political opponents as he prepares to take charge of the Congress, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi reached out to Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh on Saturday.
Mr. Singh has been admitted to a hospital in Gurgaon after he complained of uneasiness and difficulty in breathing on Friday night.
On Saturday morning, Mr. Gandhi followed Congress president Sonia Gandhi in sending the SP supremo a message wishing him well.
Mr. Gandhi is abroad on leave to “introspect on the future course of the party.”
“Mr. Gandhi has expressed concern over Mr. Singh’s illness and hospitalisation. He conveyed his best wishes for a speedy recovery,” a Congress source said.
Mr. Gandhi’s gesture is significant as it comes on the eve of the government’s efforts to pass the Land Bill, diluting the land acquisition law passed on 2013 that the Congress credits him for.
The outreach is a departure from Mr. Gandhi’s political stance of the past in which he had professed strong opposition to all politicians charged with corruption, whether from other parties or his own.
