The fifth generation of the Nehru-Gandhi family has just taken the plunge into politics. With the announcement that both Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have become primary members of the Congress party, it is now only a matter of working out the modalities of their involvement.

The role they will play in the near future is not quite defined. Both could campaign in a couple of constituencies in Uttar Pradesh and hope for a ripple effect in the rest of the state. Priyanka has already declared that a storm will build up against the NDA from Amethi. They could also campaign in a few selected constituencies or opt for large scale campaigning. There’s the possibility, too, that they will contest elections themselves, or one of them could stand for the Lok Sabha from a constituency like Rae Bareli while the other campaigns across the country with their mother.

The buzz is that Rahul may stand for the Lok Sabha while Priyanka campaigns for the party. Congress leaders and allies may feel less jittery with Rahul than with Priyanka but as far as voters are concerned it makes little difference. Rahul reminds people of Rajiv Gandhi, who had once represented Amethi, and Priyanka is said to resemble Indira Gandhi. The “Bring Priyanka” campaign had recently gathered momentum. Several party MPs received new year cards this time from various states with Priyanka’s photo on the cover. The inaugural issue of the glossy magazine, The World of Priyanka, came out last week from Bombay. This magazine — probably the only one on a single person — is ostensibly the effort of a group of young journalists. It talks about the beginning of the “Priyanka era” in which younger politicians are making their debut while the older generation — which includes the Vajpayee-Advani one — is fading away.

Such magazines can, of course, be dismissed as piffle. More serious is the note struck by the Pranab Mukherjee Committee in its inquiry into the reasons for the party’s recent poll defeats. Among its recommendations was the suggestion that Rahul and Priyanka be coopted into the party’s campaign.

Several things are already becoming clear. Rahul and Priyanka will attract crowds. It remains to be seen whether they will attract votes. Their presence will have some impact in UP but how deep this will be, only time will tell. Their presence also dilutes the issue of Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origins, which the BJP is making into an electoral issue. Most important, however, is that the duo will enthuse Congress cadres — particularly those within the Youth Congress — demoralised by the recent poll defeats.

In bringing in Rahul and Priyanka, Sonia Gandhi has decided to wield her Brahmastra. The normally cautious Congress president is taking an enormous risk in doing so, but she realises that she is facing a do or die political battle against Atal Bihari Vajpayee with the BJP going in for the kill.

Faced with the onslaught from the BJP and with demoralisation setting into the Congress, Sonia Gandhi has also had to go ahead with the job of stitching up alliances. Today it has either sewn up alliances, or is in the process of doing so, with almost 20 parties: the PDP in J&K, the BSP in Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and UP — even though the unpredictable Mayawati has not quite revealed her cards; the RJD in Bihar, with the possibility of Paswan’s Lok Janshakti joining in; the NCP and RPI in Maharashtra, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi in Andhra Pradesh; the DMK,MDMK and PMK in Tamil Nadu; the MGP in Goa; the breakaway group of the BJD in Orissa; the Kerala Congress, Muslim League, and others in Kerala. Then, of course, there are the four parties of the Left Front. Also, with the possibility of Kalyan Singh leaving him, Mulayam Singh Yadav is a worried man and it is significant that Amar Singh met Sonia Gandhi again recently.

This is not to say that building a coalition will be smooth sailing for the Congress. It has to contend with very hard bargainers in Pawar and Mayawati. But the point is that the party is fast catching up with the BJP, which has in the meanwhile lost seven allies — the DMK, MDMK, PMK, Lok Janshakti, the BSP, the National Conference and Ajit Singh’s RLD. Of course, it may gain other allies, with P.A. Sangma and V.C. Shukla of the NCP likely to cast their lot with the NDA. Kalyan Singh’s return will make a difference in UP. Jayalalithaa, worried about the DMK-led alliance in her state, may also finally plump for the BJP.

Sonia was charged by critics for overdoing things, like walking across to the residence of Ram Vilas Paswan. But, at the end of the day, she realised that these risks were worth taking. She has brought back J.B. Patnaik in Orissa despite her earlier reservations and has been in touch with P.V. Narasimha Rao to seek his advice.