Rahul to handle Sonia's Rae Bareli campaign

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi appears determined to end the Rahul Gandhi vs Priyanka Gandhi debate, at least with regard to Uttar Pradesh.

According to top party sources, it will be Rahul Gandhi who will be handling the Rae Bareli by-election campaign rather than sister Priyanka Gandhi.

"The election campaign will be the starting point for the party on its road to revival in UP. Rahul Gandhi has spent over two years quietly visiting and working in Amethi. He seems to be ready to become more visible," said a Gandhi family aide.

The decision was taken by Sonia Gandhi along with Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi.

"They decided that Sonia Gandhi's by-election, after her resignation upholding the highest standards in public life, could be a launching pad for the party to revive itself in the state. Who better to steer it than Rahul Gandhi," added the aide.

During the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, it was Priyanka Gandhi who was overseeing not just the campaign but also little details like booth attendants and being present as a kind of election agent for her mother during the counting of votes. That was when Rahul Gandhi was away in the UK, working as a consultant in a British firm.

Rahul Gandhi had be seen in the mould of a reluctant inheritor, intimidated by the party's expectations and its dismal state in the cow belt.

He had repeatedly and publicly said the Congress' approach in the state was wrong, and that it had to get out of the rut of past.

It is no secret that Rahul Gandhi has been disappointed by the Congress leaders in the state, who are too busy looking at cosmetic issues to blame for the state of the party in UP.

This decision of the Gandhi family strives to make two points, according to senior leaders of the party. First it is Rahul Gandhi and not Priyanka Gandhi who is the chosen Gandhi heir. Second, the party is looking at the upcoming Assembly elections in UP through this decision.