They are the latest generation of India's fabled political family, inheritors of a dynasty that has seen three prime ministers, two assassinations and powerful connections reaching back into the nineteenth century.
Now, more than a decade since their family last controlled India, the newest heirs to the legacy of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi are showing signs they are ready to join the political fray.
But Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and her brother Rahul Gandhi -- children of one prime minister, grandchildren of another and great-grandchildren of the political architect of modern India -- aren't saying. At least not yet.
There have been hints: They recently toured the parliamentary district their mother, Sonia Gandhi, represents, meeting townspeople and calling for voters to unite behind her. As questions mounted about whether one or both would run in parliamentary elections expected within months, they joined her Congress party.
But they've said little to make the situation clear. Instead, they're letting Indians speculate about their political aspirations, their often-ambiguous statements and whether their name could rejuvenate the once-powerful Congress party, which the Nehru-Gandhi family has long dominated.
"There are no political motives," Vadra, 33, told reporters during what certainly appeared to be a political visit she and Rahul made to Amethi, the poor, Central Indian town that their mother represents.
"I am not averse to politics, but that does not mean I am going to join politics," said 34-year-old Rahul, a quiet man far less publicly visible than his sister.
If nothing else, the national interest in a couple of untested potential politicians -- one a man with no apparent profession and the other a stay-at-home mother of two -- is a reflection of a country obsessed with celebrities, whether they are movie stars, cricket players or possible candidates with well-known names.
But it also reflects a party in desperate need of help.
The Congress party, which ruled India for nearly four straight decades after independence from Britain in 1947, has gone sharply into decline since it was last in power, in 1996. Its faltering support was made clearer in state elections late last year, when it was upset in three states by the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Even Congress activists acknowledge it needs to rebuild its political machine and find a candidate to unite around.
Their family is unrelated to the country's most famous Gandhi, Mohandas Gandhi, the pacifist independence leader, but it would be very difficult to find two people in India with better political pedigrees.
Politics has never been far away, particularly for Priyanka. She was only 19 when she was thrust into the political limelight, a vision of strength supporting her mother at her father's funeral pyre. A tall woman with a commanding presence and a face that reminds many Indians of her grandmother, even then she was described as a potential leader.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party hasn't quite figured out how to react to the latest political guessing game. It has blasted the potential candidacies as "dynasty politics."
RSS