Rahul ready to lead Cong in UP

NEW DELHI: The reluctant debutante has finally decided to take the plunge. Rahul Gandhi, viewed by many in the Congress as its great white hope in UP, has expressed his willingness to lead his party's campaign in the state.

"If the party asks me I am willing to shoulder the responsibility," Rahul told media persons, while campaigning for his mother in Rae Bareli on Tuesday.

Congressmen have been clamouring for quite sometime for Rahul Gandhi to come forward and take the lead. The demand reached a feverish pitch at the AICC session in Hyderabad, but Rahul politely declined saying he was still learning the ropes and his place was amongst the rank and file of the party. Three months down the line, he appears to have been persuaded to do a rethink.

No sooner did Rahul indicate his mind that senior Congress leaders suggested that he should immediately be made a general secretary in the party.

"This is a very welcome piece of news for all of us. He should be made a general secretary and put in charge of UP," said Congress's general secretary in-charge of UP, Ashok Ghelot, while former MP Chief Minister Digvijay Singh was more circumspect. "UP is the main challenge before us. If Rahul leads the campaign we will certainly do well," he told DNA.

While it is still not clear whether he will take up a party post, what is certain is that once the Rae Bareli by-elections and the short Parliament session are over, Rahul will begin working on UP. For a state that was once its backyard, the party has now been banished to the margins.

The state sends the highest number of MPs to the Lok Sabha and out of the 80 MPs, the Congress presently has only 10 MPs.