Will she, won’t she? Priyanka could steal Rahul’s lustre

Je ne sais quoi — it’s the French phrase for something that defies a definition. Let’s reduce it to something more identifiable: the ‘X’ factor. It is the unique property which makes one person likable and another less so, one person more attractive despite his flaws and and the other less so despite his strengths. You either have it or you don’t. To cut it short, Priyanka Gandhi has a je ne sais quoi while Rahul Gandhi has not. She manages to attract attention, and adulation, without trying too hard, he has to slog hard to be appreciated. She will draw crowds automatically, while he won’t. The purpose is not to run Rahul down. There’s no doubt that he puts tremendous hard work into his job, unlike most leaders across parties in his generation and frankly, few young leaders these days have that winsome personality. But the presence of the little sister makes comparisons inevitable. There’s no denying that Priyanka creates a flutter whenever she is around. Her relaxed, affable persona and easy way with connecting to people makes her a natural in politics. It’s not for nothing that a section of the Congress has been demanding that she also join politics. Her presence in politics has been reduced to guest appearances during elections. She campaigns only for mother Sonia or brother Rahul and slips off the radar after the polls. [caption id=“attachment_185449” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Priyanka is still an unknown quantity but her greatest advantage is her personality. PTI”]  [/caption] Surely, Congressmen are not comfortable with that. Right now, she is playing the good sister. “I will campaign in Amethi and Rae Bareli right now. I will do anything Rahul wants me to do. I haven’t decided yet on joining active politics. If Rahul wants me to campaign, I will campaign,” she said today. Congress workers want her to do so for the party and fetch some additional votes for them. But is the combined force of Rahul’s hard work and Priyanka’s ‘X’ factor good enough to shore up the prospects of a party that virtually has no organisational strength and hardly any caste equation to fall back upon? Fat chance. Moreover, it does not have any strong local leader acceptable to masses. The presence of the siblings may boost the morale of party workers but not do much beyond that. At the moment, she is focusing on quelling intra-party bickering. Coming back to Priyanka, she appears to be a promise belied. The Gandhi family has not produced a real leader of the masses after Indira Gandhi. She was expected to be the inheritor of Indira’s legacy and fill in the continuing leadership void in the party. Her father Rajiv despite his visionary ambitions rarely looked cut out for the rough and grind of everyday politics. Mother Sonia is a tough personality but is handicapped by her Italian origin and limited political-populist agenda. Rahul lacks clarity of vision and so far has shown no indication that he has firm convictions or fresh ideas. Priyanka is still an unknown quantity but her greatest advantage is her personality. She can charm her way into people’s consciousness and make an immediate impression. She has not been tested hard enough yet in the challenging environment of regular politics but she has proved that thrown a challenge she won’t baulk. She has been active in the affairs of Rae Bareli and Amethi — good enough training for any politician. The only problem, she stands in stark contrast to Rahul. Her entry could take the limelight off Rahul and put all the efforts to groom him in politics to waste. Can the party take that risk? Possibly no. So it will be quite sometime before she takes the plunge. The ‘X’ factor will have to wait.