The similarities don’t end there. When Nehru became president of the Congress in 1929, he was 40. Indira became president of the Congress in 1959 at 41. Rajiv Gandhi became Congress president and prime minister at 40. If the next general elections were to happen only in 2009, Rahul will be 39 when he leads the party.

Each Nehru-Gandhi affected detachment from the enthroning of the descendant. “Normally speaking it is not a good idea for my daughter to come in as Congress president when I am the prime minister,” Nehru had said. The same lines were echoed by Indira and Sonia as they groomed their children later on.

Rahul Gandhi has not spoken his mind on most issues. But some inferences can be drawn from his campaign speeches and interventions in parliamentary bodies. He believes education and health should be priority areas of government; he is not enthusiastic about caste reservations. Problematically for a politician, he is known to have strong likes and dislikes.

Sonia Gandhi has managed to hold the party together through a bad phase because the varied interest groups within trusted her as arbitrator. She listened to everyone and took decisions that everyone accepted.

Gandhi had remarked, half-approvingly, that “Motilal saw the world through the eyes of Jawaharlal.” The question is, what will Sonia do now that Rahul has joined the fray? Will she manage to mediate Rahul’s transition to supreme leadership of the party? Will she be able to synergise Rahul’s out-of-the box ideas with the harsh realities of Indian politics?