Is Rahul Gandhi going to be elevated? Does it even matter?

Since Priyanka Vadra is likely to make an active debut in UP polls, letting Rahul Gandhi remain where he is may look like a demotion for him

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Rahul Gandhi is taking most important decisions: he decided Tarun Gogoi must be the face of the Congress in Assam; he conceded a truce with Punjab Congress leader Amrinder Singh after doing battle with him for months. He was the one who dispatched Kamal Nath to meet rebels in Arunachal Pradesh led by Kalikho Pul who later toppled the government with the BJP’s help and installed themselves in power. He was the one instrumental in appointing Prashant Kishor of IPaC to whom the Uttar Pradesh operations of the Congress have been outsourced.

So, for all practical intent and purposes, he is the one taking all the organizational decisions. So how much more authority is enough authority?

Then why the buzz about his 'elevation’?

Here’s a hypothesis.

The Congress is clear that Priyanka Gandhi is needed in UP. As an aside, the BJP also seems to think she’s jumping into the fray – hence the timing – just before the UP elections where she is supposed to make a debut – of reports about Robert Vadra owning houses in London.

But if she is brought into active politics and Rahul stays where he is, it will mean a demotion of sorts for him – the message could be that he has failed so she has been brought in as a replacement.

One way of preventing this impression from gaining ground is to elevate him, bring her in and let the mother retire.

There is no way of crosschecking or verifying this. But if that happens, it will be a generational shift. And that’s when the real fun and games will start – a clash of power centres that will surpass even Sonia Gandhi-PV Narasimha Rao; and Sonia Gandhi-Manmohan Singh.

Let’s wait.