By the time campaigning came to a close on Tuesday for the second phase of the general election, Rahul Gandhi was on the verge of a personal milestone: he had already addressed 65 poll rallies.
The youthful Congress general secretary is all set to crack a century when the remaining stretch of the electioneering is completed in the middle of May.
It is a big change since last year's assembly elections when he still came across as tentative and at the most evoked curiosity. If there are no last-minute cancellations, Rahul will have addressed 86 election meetings by April 27. Clearly, he is the lead campaigner of his party, taking much of the burden off Sonia Gandhi.
Though Sonia is travelling all over the country, Rahul's mobility is much higher.
"He plans his programme meticulously and is addressing four election meetings everyday on average," an aide said.
Since the campaign took off, Rahul has logged an estimated 50,000 poll km hopping from one part of the country to another.
When he campaigned in some of the states for the assembly elections six months ago, according to an observer, he came across as an "idealistic do-gooder".
Now being projected by his party as part of a troika along with PM Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, he is a more mature campaigner, attacking the opponents and giving short shrift to estranged allies.
Congress insiders ascribe this `coming of age' to his intense work with the youth and students as the party functionary handling the affairs of the Youth Congress and NSUI.
Over the past few months, he has conducted elections for the office-bearers of these two party wings in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Gujarat. His idea was to "reopen the door of the party to those from ordinary homes". In the process, he gained in grassroots experience.
