Congressmen, on the other hand, wish that their own Rahul were a bit more like his cousin-in-a-hurry. Rahul, of course, can afford to be a lot more low profile and laid-back about things because he knows that he has a party for the taking. Unlike Varun who has always taken a keen interest in history and politics, Rahul — like his father before him — showed no interest in either and was a reluctant entrant only to help out Mummy. He has been an MP for over two years now, but has confined his parliamentary interventions to just one earnest speech on education and his political forays have remained confined to Rae Bareli and Amethi.

The key to understanding the contrasting approaches of the two cousins lies, perhaps, not in the paternal legacy they both represent but in the influence of their respective mothers on them. Maneka Gandhi, remember, plunged into politics when barely in her 20s — choosing to contest the Amethi byelection after her husband’s death and losing to Rajiv Gandhi. She may have cut off ties with the First Family but she remained immersed in politics, winning repeatedly from Pilibhit and serving as Union minister under an assortment of governments.

Sonia Gandhi, on the other hand, was content to remain “just a housewife” and joined full-time politics a good seven years after her husband’s death. Even after becoming Congress chief, she has maintained a cultivated aloofness from the seamier games of realpolitik. In the end, Sonia has been a lot more successful in a career not of her own choosing than Maneka, who started early but acquired a reputation of impetuousness that hasn’t quite left her despite her undoubted talent.

... contd.