In probably the first public acknowledgement by a senior BJP leader, the party national general secretary Saroj Pandey while responding to a question said that the Congress president Rahul Gandhi has become somewhat mature now. The BJP leader had earlier said that Congress is raising Rafale issue as part of a strategy and equated it with party’s strategy of not raising the issue of Vyapam scam during the recent Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh though the party had consistently harped on it in the past. The assertion of the BJP leader has assumed significance since the saffron party has consistently written off Rahul Gandhi by throwing barbs at his abilities and casting question on his maturity as a political leader.