The Rahul question once again surfaced - this time at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi said that while she would like to include her son in the party organisation or the government, it was for him to decide.

"I would always be too happy to include him in the party or the government, but it is for him to decide," she said in response to a query after she had delivered the inaugural address at the Summit titled 'India: The Next Global Superpower?'.

This was the first time that Sonia has talked about a possible place for Rahul in the government.

The question came in the context of an impending reshuffle in the AICC Secretariat. At first, Sonia tried to sidestep it by saying that the query could be directed to Rahul who was present "right here".

She later said that while she would be happy to deploy him either in the party or the government, it was for him to decide.

The question of an official position for Rahul has been a matter of speculation ever since he entered active politics and contested, and won, the Amethi Lok Sabha seat in 2004.

Hopes of a Congress revival in Uttar Pradesh have also been pegged on him, with party workers repeatedly demanding a more meaningful organisational or government role for the youth leader.

This demand was articulated forcefully also at the plenary session of the All India Congress Committee at Hyderabad earlier this year.

But when Rahul took the podium, he emphasised that he was still a learner. "My place is now to learn and understand so that I can serve the people," he had said, adding that there was no "fast-tracking" in creating leaders. The MP had also said at that time that he would like to strengthen the party in weak areas, and reaffirm its position in its strongholds.