Rahul Gandhi does not look ready to be PM: Shekhar Gupta

“He has not collected any experience on governance, he has been very inactive in Parliament, so I don’t believe he has prepared himself for Pime Ministership in these 10 years,” Gupta said.

According to Gupta, if one were to theoretically ask Rahul Gandhi what the problem with the Congress party was, he would perhaps say that the party is structured all wrong. And that to contest in this a market place of ideas and votes and voters, you would need to project a completely different politics and party.

“Theoretically, that is aan interesting idea, but is the Congress party ready for it? The answer is no,” says Gupta, adding that Rahul too faces the same problems that his father did when he tried to bring about radical changes.

Gupta said Rahul’s biggest advantage compared to his father, and grandmother is that dissidence within the party is almost non-existent. So in a way, Rahul has a firm grip on the party.

“But his biggest disadvantage is that the Gandhi family’s ability to get votes for the party’s candidates is at its lowest. This is the contradiction he has to manage,” Gupta said, adding that almost 50 percent of the voters in the 2014 elections would comprise those born after Indira Gandhi’s assassination.

“This is a completely different India. And he has been pitted against people like Kejriwal who have come in without claiming any entitlement. That has its own sex appeal, which is very difficult for Rahul to counter,” Gupta said.