A no-show for Rahul Gandhi?

The Congress has drafted some of its topmost leaders to enthuse party activists to send volunteers in large numbers to the proposed rally against the land acquisition Bill planned at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan later this month. But the party's catchment area to draft workers is becoming smaller and smaller - because on account of recent electoral defeats, there is hardly any appetite to launch an agitation.

Take Rajasthan. It is expected to take the lead in the campaign and Congress leader Gurudas Kamat visited Jaipur recently to persuade party workers to join. Feedback suggests that while volunteers were ready to travel to Delhi when it was Sonia Gandhi who was asking them to come, enthusiasm has waned when workers heard it was Rahul Gandhi who would be the star of the show. Now, no one is committing themselves on how many people will go for the rally, how many volunteers from each district or how many buses...