To Draw A Few New Lines On The Palm

We know he's 33 going on 21 in terms of EQ (emotional quotient), retires shyly behind his younger sister when asked a tough question, is a fitness freak and likes Kareena Kapoor. He plays a decent game of cricket, has lived most of his life abroad, likes multi-cuisine spreads and holds a pilot's licence. He's a Doon School and Delhi University alumnus who chose to study economics at Harvard and later at Cambridge. But does he have what it takes to be a politician?

Congressmen who interact with Rahul often say he is very much like his father Rajiv Gandhi. "He's techno-savvy, data-hungry, very modern in his outlook," claims a party strategist. Youth Congress chief Randeep Singh Surjewala finds him open-minded, down-to-earth and committed. "He's innovative, a problem-solver and has a clear idea of what the Congress should stand for."

Rahul wears an air of gravitas. He doesn't smile as readily as his father did; in fact, he can look downright glum. He is taciturn to a fault, even-tempered and a patient listener. He's not given to the Priyanka kind of emotional displays. But friends say he has a great sense of humour and does not take himself too seriously. Unlike his sister and her husband, he's not a party person. He'd rather curl up with a good book than pay attention to page-3 socialites.

He has kept his personal life discreet, but not extraordinarily so. He's neither a playboy nor a monk. The only girl he's been seriously linked with is Colombian national Juanita. Their relationship seems to be an on-off affair. At the time of the party's Shimla conclave, rumour had it that he was on the verge of marrying her. Just before that, there had been intense speculation that he had broken up with Juanita and was frantically smsing actress Kareena Kapoor. Juanita spent New Year's eve 2004 in Lakshadweep with the Gandhi family. She and Rahul romanced in the backwaters of Kerala, prompting a busybody to complain on their 'moral turpitude'. And soon after that, there were stories that he was going to marry a good UP Brahmin girl, albeit one educated in Oxford. Similar stories had been spread earlier; in fact, it was said that the late Jitendra Prasada had been asked to find a UP Brahmin girl for the country's most eligible bachelor. That episode accompanied rumours that mama Sonia had put her foot down and asked him to settle for an Indian.

No sooner had Juanita gone back to Madrid, where she works, than rumours of a desi alliance popped up again—deliberately planted, according to some. "Rahul has to make his debut now if he intends to get married to a foreign national. Otherwise, the marriage would impede his entry into politics," says a young Congress candidate from UP. Already, bjp leaders have been making snide comments about the proposed foreign bahu and her political future in the country.

Party leaders say Rahul is an avid reader and well-versed in the economy of the country. He particularly enjoys books on foreign policy. His latest read: a biography of Deng Xiaoping. As Priyanka told the press on their visit to Amethi last month, "He's smarter than I am". Better-read, anyway. It is not like he was an academic genius at school—he had to use his shooting skills to get into St Stephen's College on a sports quota.

For the last one year, he's been putting his cyber skills to good use by conducting a state-by-state analysis of the Congress prospects. He was inducted as a party strategist at the time of the Gujarat elections and was one of the few who was pessimistic about the outcome. He's been closely involved with the constituency-wise surveys being conducted by the party.

Rahul took a personal interest in the party's election manifesto. It was he who insisted on a new-look manifesto, says party strategist Jairam Ramesh.He wanted it sleekly packaged, reader-friendly, pictorial and full of action plans instead of promises. So far, he has had no direct interaction with the party but he's been hands-on during the campaign. One of his suggestions was that the Congress president abandon the traditional rally-based style of campaigning and stick to 'human contact' in jan sampark programmes instead. He also took a lot of interest in the Congress website which had developed some snags of late.

The Gandhi heir moved back to India from London, where he was a financial consultant, just a couple of years ago. He now runs his own business in computer peripherals and is said to have a sound business sense.

He speaks reasonably good Hindi but hasn't yet displayed any signs of being an effective public speaker. Next week, he will be put to the test as he begins his campaign in Amethi. The greatest challenge for the introverted, intensely private (like his mother) Rahul will be living under the scrutiny of the media. TV cameras bother him; he has made that clear in every single public appearance. But from now on, he's just going to have to grin and bear it.