Has a Rahul Gandhi who ‘bloomed late’ become Cong chief?

Files nomination to fight his first Lok Sabha poll from Amethi

Rahul appointed Congress general secretary. He takes charge of Indian Youth Congress and NSUI

Credited for bagging 22 out of 80 seats in UP in general elections

Rahul Gandhi launched protests against land acquisition in UP’S Bhatta Parsaul

Rahul appointed as the Congress vice- president

Gandhi files the nomination papers for the post of Congress president

As a member of the Congress, I observe this as a Black Day. Rahul has been anointed like a Mughal king in a line of dynastic hereditary succession. SHEHZAD POONAWALLA,

Congress leader THE SIXTH GENERATION GANDHINEHRU SCION HAS CALLED THE SHOTS SINCE HIS ELEVATION AS VICEPRESIDENT IN THE BEGINNING OF 2013. THE ONGOING CAMPAIGN IN GUJARAT IS HIS CHANCE TO PROVE SKEPTICS WRONG BY WINNING OR AT LEAST IMPROVING THE PARTY’S TALLY

NEW DELHI: The long-delayed, much-speculated change of guard in the Congress is finally a reality.

Rahul Gandhi is president now of the party founded in 1885 – and facing its worst political test since Independence.

In many ways it’s a transition from de facto to de jure. The sixth generation Gandhi-nehru scion has called the shots since his elevation as vice-president in the beginning of 2013 without picking up the testamur that makes a leader: a poll victory!

The ongoing campaign in Gujarat is his chance to prove skeptics wrong by winning or at least improving the party’s tally.

For the victory in Punjab, where he campaigned, was attributed to the charismatic Amarinder Singh. The sole silver line amid the run of defeats were the 20-odd seats the Congress won in UP in the 2009 general elections.

In fact, the party’s return to power then was popular acceptance of Sonia Gandhi’s inclusive persona, Manmohan Singh’s economic prowess and Rahul’s youthful appeal. Theirs was a reassuring blend for city dwellers and rural folks alike in the backdrop of the 2008 US subprime economic crisis that had global ripples.

That’s the past the Congress’s striving to revive in post-gst and demonetisation Gujarat where its challenger is the same Narendra Modi who took it to the cleaners in 2014. It’s from that rump of 44 Lok Sabha seats the new president has to rebuild the Congress.

Does he have it in him? Can he help the party regain the enviable past that’s in a shambles? There’s a tenuous body of evidence now that he’s no longer the fumbling, bumbling Rahul who came across as the Congress family’s reluctant, reticent ‘karta.’

Not till long ago, a widely shared impression in the party was that unlike his mother, he wasn’t a consensus builder. That he was a chronic absentee prone to deserting the post amid battles he should’ve led from the front.

But the leader some of his colleagues are seeing in Gujarat is ‘another’ person: willing to listen and accept advice; take party-persons across age-groups along rather than restricting himself to a cabal of chosen aides.

A Gujarat PCC office holder said it was unusual for him to hear Rahul asking for seniors on seeing them missing from his entourage.

He dwelt as much on his selfcorrecting ways at a public rally, admitting that the hammering he got from the BJP was for him a lesson.

“I’m a changed person,” the Gujarat leader quoted him as telling the crowd.

The pragmatist in him was evident as much at the Dwarkadheesh Temple.

He was all attention as priests showed him records of earlier visits by his family elders: Pandit Nehru, Indira and Rajiv Gandhi. He wore through the day’s campaign the vermillion tilak they applied, till he reached another temple at dusk.

But the question remains: has Rahul changed or people are looking at him differently? Is he, as Mani Shankar Aiyar often says, blooming late the way Nehru, Indira, Rajiv and Sonia did?

The jury is out and watching. Credit nevertheless goes to him for assuming command in the middle of a poll battle that can go either way.

The person to be elected for the top position is predetermined. People may aspire to get a place in the lower rungs but can never be the party leader. NITISH KUMAR, Bihar chief minister