New Delhi. The continued speculation in the Congress over a bigger role for Rahul Gandhi got a boost with party Newpresident Sonia Gandhi making it clear that the decision was upto him. “It is for Rahul to decide. He alone can take a decision on it,” she said when asked about a larger role for Rahul.
This brief comment came when Sonia Gandhi came to the Parliament House along with other senior leaders for filing the UPA’s vice-presidential candidate Hamid Ansari’s nomination papers. For quite some time now there has been a growing chorus in the Congress that Rahul Gandhi should come in the mainstream and play a bigger role. However, there is no clarity about the scope and concept of this proposed bigger role.

Sonia Gandhi’s comment has been seen in party circles as an endorsement of this demand. “When Sonia says that the decision is up to him, it makes clear that she has no problem if Rahul plays a bigger role,” said a general secretary. But the party has an internal dilemma as well. “With a strong Congress president and an incumbent prime minister, any bigger role for Rahul either in the party or the government can come only at the cost of minimising their clout. Then there would be two power centres, and this has its own problems,” the general secretary added.