Looking for the light, Cong goes for Son Rise

While Rahul’s candidature is significant in both the immediate and long term, the Congress rank and file are still awaiting word on the ‘‘real missile’’: Priyanka Gandhi.

AICC general secretary Ambika Sonia sought to keep the suspense, saying that an announcement about Priyanka would be ‘‘made at the appropriate time.’’

According to Congress sources, 10, Janpath is weighing three options. The first option is that Priyanka will not aim for Lok Sabha in this round, but campaign extensively. Apart from Amethi and Rae Bareli, where her 1999 campaign made a big impact, she will travel throughout Uttar Pradesh and much of the country.

The second option, favoured by most partymen, is that she too enter the poll fray but from a seat in the south, preferably Bellary in Karnataka which Sonia Gandhi won and vacated in 1999. This would reinforce the image of the Gandhis as the nation’s premier pan-Indian family and improve the prospects of the party in southern India.

The third option is for Sonia Gandhi to once again contest Bellary but this time vacate Rae Bareli (in the event that she wins both) and Priyanka Gandhi could then contest from Rae Bareli in a bye-election.

This third option enables the Congress to make the most of Priyanka’s avowed campaigning skills, get her into Parliament once the party’s post-election fortunes are known, and put in effect the other line of the Congress tune: ‘‘Tumhe Indira nazar aayegi, Priyanka ko jab dekhoge (You will see Indira when you look at Priyanka).’’

Whatever Priyanka finally decides, the news that a member of the fifth generation of the Nehru-Gandhi clan has decided to formally enter the political arena came as a shot in the arm for the Congress today.

While Rahul Gandhi is unlikely to substantially change the fortunes of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, his decision served to counter the mood of dejection in the state unit which has made little headway in securing a much-need alliance with either the Bahujan Samaj Party or Samajwadi Party.

Congress MLA from UP, Louise Khursheed, said: ‘‘It is very good news for us. It not only means that we are now certain to win two seats in UP but it will have a ripple effect all over the state.’’

AICC media secretary Tom Vadakkan went one step further to say that Rahul Gandhi would ‘‘galvanise the party cadres’’ and ‘‘electrify the electorate across the country’’.

According to Congress strategist Jairam Ramesh, Rahul Gandhi’s candidature ‘‘will enthuse new life in the party, particularly in UP; it will strengthen the forces of modern, reform-minded and technology-oriented thinking in the Congress, and certainly strengthen the younger generation and the party’s appeal for the youth.’’

Whether Rahul Gandhi, who has not shown the skills of a ‘‘mass leader yet’’, will have much of an impact outside the Amethi-Rae Bareli region remains a moot question but his entry conveys important signals that go far beyond the 2004 elections.

For one, it signals that the Gandhi family is in for the long haul. It also seeks to blunt the Opposition’s campaign against the ‘‘foreign origin’’ issue. And it ensures there will be no ‘‘revolt’’ against Sonia Gandhi from within the party if it fails to improve its numbers because her son will be an MP and a natural claimant for future leadership.