Cong V-P set to lead party in elections due by May, which has slim chance of winning.
New Delhi: After years in the shadows as a reluctant heir-apparent, Rahul Gandhi is set for his own tryst with destiny, to lead the ruling Congress party in elections due by May that it has only a slim chance of winning.
Congress, in power for the last decade, is struggling in opinion polls with a string of corruption scandals and a reputation for poor governance engulfing its administration. A resurgent opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi (Common Man's) Party, a neophyte anti-corruption party, appear to have a stranglehold on public opinion.
Congress's response is likely to be to bring the 43-year-old heir of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty to the forefront, in the hope that the charisma of the family can still bring in votes.
It holds a meeting on Friday where delegates are likely to formally choose Gandhi to lead the party in the election, although his mother, Sonia, is expected to remain the Congress chief.
Gandhi has much to prove but aides say he has thrust himself into the centre of the campaign, launching a series of moves to clean up the 128-year-old Congress party and stem the slide in its fortunes. They say he has asked for the right to name at least 100 of the party candidates to the 543-member parliament and that he will ditch many of the old guard powerbrokers who have given Congress a bad reputation.
"There are certain changes Gandhi has been wanting to do, they may come through. Changes whether dramatic or subtle, I don't know what you would call them, (but) they will be substantial," Sachin Pilot, corporate affairs minister and one of the stars in Gandhi's political team, said.
Critics say Gandhi has depended on his family name for power, that he is too lightweight and has barely registered his presence in parliament although he has been a member for the last decade.
"In a structured party, Rahul Gandhi would still have been struggling to get his first assignment as an office-bearer in the party structure or in a legislative body," said Arun Jaitley, a senior leader of the BJP.
"It is only in a personality and family-dominated set-up like the Congress that he can be nominated as the unquestioned supremo."
( Source : reuters )
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