Critics say that out of sycophancy senior Congress leaders are going all out for their praise about the scion of what is called the first political family of the country.

Union Minister Arjun Singh started this when he said that "there was nothing wrong" in making Gandhi the Prime Minister of the country. The AICC was not impressed.

But now more leaders are coming out in the open. General Secretary Digvijay Singh says, "Rahul is fully competent to occupy the post of Prime Minister." The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister is not known to speak out of turn in the Congress and his comments found wider acceptability in the party.

Those associated with Gandhi and the Congress say that he is the "Unique Selling Proposition" or the USP of the party in a country which has 65 per cent of its population below the age of 38.

"No other party has a youth ambassador, an icon with whom the youth can connect to and this gives the Congress a headstart and a distinct advantage," says a Congress leader.

He says the question is how to cash in on this USP of the Congress into distinct electoral advantage in the next round of elections.

Gandhi has emerged as the soft, suave, new generation politician of the 21st century who is not bound by political conventions, can make honest admissions, is focused and not bothered about the Opposition barbs, he says.

The young brigade in the Congress rallies around him and hails him as their leader, inside and outside Parliament. This group comprises of Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasad, Sachin Pilot, Milind Deora and Sandeep Dikshit amongst others.

... contd.