Sonny days

Rahul Gandhi or his mother or for that matter the Congress party may not have said a word about him being a prime ministerial candidate, but already UPA allies and some loyal courtiers are declaring that they would have no objection to it. 

The Nationalist Congress Party is among the allies which has jumped into the fray. Civil aviation minister Praful Patel has declared that his party is on board, though his partymen are unhappy that he spoke on their behalf.

Human resources development minister and unabashed family faithful Arjun Singh was asked about Patel’s observation and only too willingly seconded the idea.

Then it was the turn of DMK supreme and TN chief minister M Karunanidhi to give his assent. Whether it was the law of unintended consequences or not, it has become a full fledged public display of approval no doubt to the embarrassment of the Congress. Not that they would be against the notion — Congressmen are quite attuned to the idea of dynastic succession — but they would not like to air it in public and certainly not at this stage.

The young man is still finding his political spurs. In the past few months, Rahul Gandhi has been sent to do a bit of political campaigning whenever the occasion required it and soon discovered that he is expected to deliver instant results.

His party’s failure to do better in UP and to win in Gujarat has been blamed on him.

Since then, he has set out on a Bharat Yatra of sorts, traveling to remote parts of the country and connecting with different constituencies — tribals, villagers, Dalits and even women hockey players.

All this is to let him get a feel of the country and build up some kind of brand equity. This may not necessarily translate into votes, but the game plan seems to be to give him controlled exposure. 

But pitting him in the arena as a rival to the BJP’s declared prime ministerial candidate LK Advani is another matter. For one thing, Rahul lacks the requisite experience and a failure to launch in front of a formidable rival could be a disaster.

And secondly, there is no compulsion on the Congress or the party chief Sonia Gandhi to make her hand public so early in the day.

Such endorsements by fawning courtiers or over-friendly allies needlessly queer the pitch as far as the Congress is concerned. Sonia Gandhi and her party may well root for Rahul as the prime minister, but they will do it at their own speed and at a timing of their choosing. Besides, the young man could have his own plans and he still has a long way to go in the political arena.