Rahul steps into spotlight

"Son Rises," said the Times of India in a headline after Sonia racked up a record 417,000-vote victory margin last Thursday in the family bastion of Rae Bareli in politically pivotal Uttar Pradesh state.

Indian newspapers called the clean-cut politician's role as manager of Sonia's campaign "Rahul's launchpad" while cries from ruling Congress members for him to take a leading party role have been getting louder.

Italian-born Sonia had triggered the by-election by quitting as MP to defuse a bitter controversy about elected politicians holding other paid posts.

While thanking voters, Sonia who is Congress president, credited her win in equal measure to "Mr Rahul Gandhi and the team of Congress who made it possible," and spoke of finding a role for her son in the party organisation.

Asked whether Rahul, 35, who bears a powerful resemblance to his assassinated father Rajiv, would take on a bigger role, The Hindustan Times quoted Sonia as saying: "Yes, this could be thought about now."

His sister Priyanka, whose charisma is highly rated but who has pushed her bachelor brother forward while she focuses on raising two children, also said he would have to "shoulder larger responsibilities in the future".

"The expectations now are very high. People expect he will be named general secretary or to some other high post after a party meeting" in late March, said political analyst Mahesh Rangarajan.

Until his sortie for his mother's campaign, Rahul had been almost politically invisible as a parliamentarian following the party's surprise electoral win in May 2004 over the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

Rahul has spent his time tending his constituency of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh and travelling around the nation learning the political ropes, saying leadership has to be built "brick by brick".