Rumours swirl around another Gandhi

To many Congress insiders, it is unthinkable that the latest Gandhi should not be leading the party and that victory would be impossible without him. Indeed, retiring Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who many believe held office for the past 10 years simply as a surrogate for Congress President and Rahul's mother, Sonia, declared that Rahul had "excellent credentials" to be the country's next Prime Minister.

Quite what those credentials are is open to question. A diffident, almost shy man, Rahul is a backbench MP in the Lok Sabah (Lower House) of the Indian Parliament. He has never held Ministerial office and indeed turned down the offer of one under Singh.

As a Congress Vice President he is on record as saying he would prefer to work behind the scenes to reform the party than lead from the front in the hurly burley of parliamentary politics. While Modi is already stomping the country and drawing huge crowds to his meetings, Gandhi prefers more low-key events such as his consultation in Bangalore at the weekend with Congress students and young businesspeople to hear what they would like to see in the party's manifesto.

So when his younger sister "drops in" on a meeting of party leaders, despairing Congress supporters sit up and take notice. Married to businessman Robert Vadra, Priyanka has previously denied she wants a political career. "It is not a strong pull – I feel I can do things for people outside politics," she said in an interview last year.

Yet in many ways Priyanka is everything her brother is not – a fiery and eloquent speaker, highly popular within the Congress rank and file, she has, up until now, spent her energies within the party supporting the campaigns of her mother and brother – a selfless devotion to family that will not do her any harm among voters should she reverse her decision to tread the wider political stage.

For the moment it seems that Congress is stuck with the reluctant Rahul, but if, as many suspect, he will take a beating from Modi in the coming campaign – and if Congress still cannot shake its obsession with the Gandhi family – then Priyanka could well be next in line.