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Rahul Gandhi Reuters
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They call him the Yuva Samrat, or young emperor. Yet Rahul Gandhi has so far shown no inclination to claim the throne of the world's largest democracy.
The scion of India's Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty could be prime minister if he asked for it, according to many members of his ruling Congress party. But instead he is focused on grassroots politics in Uttar Pradesh, the country's most politically vital state, which votes in local elections this month and where Congress struggles for support at the ballot box.
"Rahul Gandhi's obsession is not to be PM," the 41-year-old told a news conference while campaigning in the state on Monday.
"Rahul Gandhi's obsession is to work for the people."
Party insiders and confidants say Gandhi is looking beyond the government's present troubles, and his strategy of building support from the ground up guarantees a long-term future for Congress and, by extension, for himself.
"Tomorrow if he gets up in the morning and wants to become prime minister, he will be sworn in," said a federal minister, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
"It will take a few hours, only the procedural time."
But the minister added: "Rahul is not in a hurry, he does not want to grab any post, he wants to earn it. He is reluctant to do it any other way. He is a long-race horse."
Still, with the party mired in corruption scandals and in danger of being forced into an early general election or thrown out at the next scheduled poll in 2014, Gandhi may find he has no throne to ascend to.
Pressure is mounting on him from within the troubled party to take charge because Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is seen as a lame-duck and an electoral liability.
Long apprenticeship
The Nehru-Gandhi family has ruled the country for most of its 65 years since independence, and many Indians seem to take it for granted that Rahul, the son, grandson and great-grandson of former prime ministers, will also one day be their leader.
He has studied at Harvard and Cambridge universities, worked under a false name at a London management consultancy and has spent the last seven years as a member of parliament from a family constituency in Uttar Pradesh. It has been a long apprenticeship, in the shadow of his Italian-born mother, Sonia Gandhi, president of the Congress party and - many say - the real centre of power in India.
Sonia underwent treatment overseas last year, reportedly for cancer, and while she has resumed party duties there are doubts about how long she can maintain the pace.
Given the risk of a leadership vacuum, it may soon be now-or-never time for her son. But since 2004 when he first joined parliament, Gandhi has focused much of his political energy on Uttar Pradesh, which with 200 million people would be the world's fifth-most populous country if independent.
It sends 80 members to the 543 elected parliamentary seats in New Delhi, making control of the state crucial to run the federal government.
The family is notoriously shy of the media and Gandhi did not respond to requests for an interview. But aides say he sees Uttar Pradesh as a microcosm of India and chafes at the fact that the state government is headed by an opposition party.
"He and his family belong to the state, and that is something the whole nation is aware of," said Minister of State for Telecommunications and IT Sachin Pilot, who is often mentioned in the local press as part of Gandhi's "brigade".
"There is a need not just for a change in political leadership but more importantly to bring about a transformation in the lives of the people. That is a much more compelling theme behind his actions as opposed to just grabbing of power."
Indeed, Gandhi seems much more comfortable on the stump in the dusty plains of Uttar Pradesh than he is in parliament.
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