"People clearly rejected Rahul Gandhi and chose Yadav as their leader though the Nehru-Gandhi scion did not project himself as a potential chief ministerial candidate during the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. Gandhi tried to use his charisma but voters were not convinced and they clearly sent out a message rejecting him," Prof Singh said.
He added: "Some Congress leaders in the state and many party workers had, off the record, expressed their frustration about Gandhi's ability to lead the party after Sonia Gandhi who is the widow of the country's slain Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who was often referred to as the people's leader after his mother and India's first woman Prime Minister Indira Gandhi." Yet just to message their own ego, several Congress leaders and Ministers publicly hailed Gandhi's elevation at the party meet in Jaipur.
"We would be in very capable hands if Rahul Gandhi takes over," Shashi Tharoor, a junior Minister, said as one of his colleagues, Jyotiraditya Scindia, echoed similar sentiments, saying, "He represents the demographic dividend. We want him to lead in 2014."
The political analysts say that though over 30 per cent of India's population are youth, projecting Gandhi as Congress youth icon, who can take on BJP heavyweight Modi if the Gujarat Chief Minister is projected as the opposition's prime ministerial candidate, may not actually help -- though both the leaders are single.
"People of this country are fed up with corruption and rising prices. Congress has failed to tackle corruption and arrest inflation despite its big big talks. On the other hand, Modi has delivered in Gujarat and so the people of that state embraced him as their leader for the third time. If it's Gandhi versus Modi, the latter stands a fair chance," said political commentator Prof Manoj RoyChowdhury.
Even the BJP is dismissive about Gandhi's chances to revive the Congress party.
"If they are doing it with the assumption that the fortune of the Congress will shine in 2014, they are entirely mistaken," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told the media.
Though Gandhi's magic may not work in the upcoming general elections, but an internal power struggle between the BJP and its ideological mentor organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, could bleak Modi's chances of getting projected as the opposition party's prime ministerial candidate before the polls.
"In the BJP, the second-rung leaders don't see eye to eye. Some have even RSS background. The party is also in a mess internally. The elections could result in a hung Parliament and a Third Front may emerge supported by the Congress to keep the BJP at bay," Prof Gupta said.
Anyway, time will only tell who emerges as the winner when India goes to polls a year-and-a-half from now.
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