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The news on Friday about Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's son Rahul entering politics within a week has caught many party veterans by surprise, with most contending that his sister Priyanka is a much better bet.
"If this news is true then I can only say that Rahul's formal entry accords to the Indian ethos. He is the Nehru-Gandhi family's political heir," a Congress veteran from Bihar pointed out.
Another Congress leader, Wasim Ahmed, said, "Nobody can question madam's [Sonia's] wish. That is her personal decision. I think our party members will be very happy that in keeping with the tradition of his illustrious family, Rahul is joining our party through the Seva Dal, which I am given to understand."
"Given Rahul's pedigree, it is only a matter of time before he captures the imagination of the people," he said.
"No matter how talented she [Priyanka] is, she cannot usurp her brother's rightful place because he has to carry forward the torch of his noted family," another Congress oldtimer, who is now retired from politics, said.
The Congress chief "knows what she is doing" and her permission to Rahul to pick up the legacy of his late father, Rajiv Gandhi, is in keeping with the Indian tradition, he said.
However, younger Congressmen, especially those from Uttar Pradesh who saw Priyanka's brief albeit assertive role during the assembly polls in the state, are not happy.
"Rahul is welcome, but we will miss Priyanka," Yusuf Lateef, a Congress member from Sonia's Amethi parliamentary constituency, said in New Delhi.
He referred to Priyanka's maiden political speech while canvassing for Captain Satish Sharma in Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency two years ago.
She spewed fire and brimstone against the Congress candidate's rival, Arun Nehru of the Bharatiya Janata Party, he said. Priyanka exhorted the people to vote for Sharma and asked how they could allow the BJP candidate to enter the constituency when he had stabbed her father in the back, he added.
"We saw the fire in her. UPCC chiefs and senior party leaders have virtually petitioned madam to allow Priyanka to enter active politics, for that will immensely improve our political fortunes [in the state]," he said.
In January 1998, Priyanka accompanied her mother to the memorial dedicated to Rajiv at Sriperembudur [Rajiv was assassinated there in 1991]. She enchanted the locals by speaking in Tamil.
Rahul accompanied his mother to Chennai before the 13th Lok Sabha polls.
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