RAHUL GANDHI

After Uttar Pradesh, Rahul Gandhi's next political target for the Congress will be Bihar where assembly polls are scheduled late next year. Gandhi will be concentrating on Bihar after his success in UP, which includes his role in the victory of the party in the Firozabad Lok Sabha by-election, party sources said. Due to Gandhi's efforts, the party had won 21 seats in the Lok Sabha elections in May and the tally has now increased to 22. The feeling in the party is that if Congress could do well in UP, it could certainly do so in Bihar where the party has been out of power for the last almost 20 years. Sources said that the party was unlikely to align with any party in the Bihar polls and would like to go it alone. "Our strategy in Bihar is reflected in the forthcoming assembly elections in Jharkhand where we have desisted from aligning with either RJD or JMM despite strong pleas by these parties for stitching of a secular alliance," a source said. In the Lok Sabha elec...

Sheela Bhatt explores and explains the Rahul Gandhi phenomenon and what it means for the Congress party and the nation's politics. Last week in a single day Jairam Ramesh, Anand Sharma and Narayan Swami -- ministers and senior Congressmen -- visited 12, Tughlak Lane in New Delhi to see Rahul Gandhi, who is increasingly referred to as 'RG' in Congress circles. More and more people from New Delhi and outside are seeking an audience with the young Congress general secretary. The 'dual centre of power' era of UPA-I is undergoing a transformation in UPA-II. A new circle of power is emerging consisting of party President Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In UPA-II, the troika presides over the destiny of a billion plus people without much opposition around them.