Rahul alone will decide on larger role, says Sonia Gandhi to NDTV

Congress President Sonia Gandhi has told NDTV that RahulGandhi alone will decide on whether he will play a larger role in theparty.  When asked if there's a possibility of him serving as workingpresident or vice-president before the 2014 polls, she said, "It is forRahul to decide, he alone can take a decision on this."

There has been much talk within the party of whether Mr Gandhi will officiallytake on the mantle of No 2. In a recent interview that landed him in considerablecontroversy, Congress leader and Law Minister Salman Khurshid said "Untilnow, we have only seen cameos of his thoughts and ideas...but he has not weavedall of this into a grand announcement.  This is a period of waiting."

Earlier this week, party leader Digvijaya Singh said "I am absolutely surethat Rahul will play a much more proactive role in mainstream of CongressParty. Let the Presidential and Vice Presidential polls get over," Singh tolda private news channel.

As the general elections approach, there has been talk within the party aboutwhether Mr Gandhi will agree to be projected as the prime ministerialcandidate. International media reports, all critical of Prime Minister ManmohanSingh recently, have described him as a leader with little influence over hisown cabinet.  A story in the UK daily The Independent earlier this weeksaid, "From within his ruling Congress Party there are repeated, ifoblique, demands for him to step aside ahead in favour of his presumedsuccessor, Rahul Gandhi."

Mr Gandhi accepted the blame for his party's spectacularly poorperformance in the recent UP elections- the Congress placed a poor fourth,despite projecting him heavily as its leader.  Mr Gandhi, his mother andhis sister Priyanka had campaigned heavily in the election that was eventuallyswept by the Samjawadi Party, courtesy its 39-year-old leader Akhilesh Yadav.