Congress leaders building an image for Rahul now

NEW DELHI: It appears to be the next chapter of the story of sacrifice ��� the dramatis personae is none other than Rahul Gandhi. Congress has described the Nehru-Gandhi scion���s lack of eagerness to occupy the highest position in government as ���selflessness���.

���We have a youth icon in Rahul Gandhi. A youth who is not anxious to occupy the highest seat of power... There is an occasion (for Rahul to become prime minister) but he does not want it at this juncture,��� AICC media in-charge M Veerappa Moily said.

Several senior members of the Manmohan Singh Cabinet and other Congress leaders have, over the past five years, periodically suggested that Rahul Gandhi should be appointed prime minister. There was expectation that the demand would pipe down after Congress president Sonia Gandhi announced Manmohan Singh���s candidature at the launch of the party���s manifesto in March.

Ms Gandhi���s endorsement of Mr Singh as prime minister has not, however, put an end to the issue. Through the election campaign, the question of Mr Rahul Gandhi ���taking over��� the prime minister���s job as dogged the party.

This is largely because Mr Gandhi���s accession to prime ministership is seen as natural. Even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appears not to have been spared from joining the chorus. In a recent televised interview, Mr Singh said that ���Rahul Gandhi has all the qualities a good PM should have. I certainly at some stage would like the seat of power should be in the hands of younger people than I am.���

Mr Gandhi, who was appointed general secretary in September 2007, is in-charge of the party���s youth organisations ��� NSUI and Youth Congress. The Congress general secretary has consistently presented himself as an organisation man though it is no secret that he is being groomed for the top job. Mr Rahul Gandhi insists that he can���t be prime minister just yet as he doesn���t have the experience. He says that his priority is to ���build Congress into a strong, pro-poor and youthful organisation.���

The party general secretary is a vocal proponent of ���internal democracy���. He is rather proud of his experiments ��� in Punjab, where former state chief minister Beant Singh���s grandson Ravneet Singh Bittu was elected president of the state unit of Youth Congress.

While in Gujarat, the internal democracy experiment ended up as bit of mayhem with contestants and supporters indulging in skirmishes, looting ballot boxes, capturing polling booths, bogus voting, and violence, leading to disruption of voting.